Legend of The Dragon Sage
by kage925
Summary: Naruto makes a mistake while performing the summoning just which lands him at a crossroads in his future. Which road will he take and where will it lead?
1. chapter 1

**_I'm back and with a new story!! (for now at least)_**

 ** _let me know if you want me to continue this story or go back to my first one._**

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Naruto was fuming. He had spent the better part of his day walking through the streets of konoha ranting outloud. "Not only did Kakashi-sensei blow me off to go train the teme but my replacement Sensei is a joke!" He sighed in fustration. "Guess I'll have to train on my own then."

It was then that he heard the sound of giggling not too far off, so he decided to investigate. Naruto walked closer to the origin of the sound and the sight before him made him sweatdrop. Before his very eyes stood a grown man with long spiky white hair crouched down, staring intently through a peep hole into the womens hotsprings and giggling like a pervert. Naruto stared for a moment before deciding to let the prankster side of him take over.

He took a deep breath and shouted "Hey! Why are you peeping into the womens hotspring old man!?!"

At the mention of a pervert the women in the hotspring shot a death glare at the newly discovered peep hole.

Upon seeing this, Jiraiya pomptly fell on his ass. He stared up at Naruto with fear in his eyes. "How could you do this to me!?" he shouted hysterically.

Naruto began to smirk "calm down, all I did was ruin your little show."

"No!" Jiraiya began. "you dont understa-"

Jiraiya froze as he felt eyes peer into his very soul. He turned slowly to face a group of half naked women clothed only in towels. He laughed nervously and said "hey ladies."

The women, seeing that Jiraiya was still crouched near the peep hole, deduced that he must be the pervert. So one of them taking the lead yelled "Show him what happens to perverts girls!!"

The color in Jiraiya's face vanished like the Avatar (A/N Get it? no? I'll stop.)

as the group of women decended upon him. Fortunately one of the girls in the front of the group tripped, falling on Jiraiya and pushing her fleshy mounds into his face.

Realizing the compromising position she was in the woman shot up onto her feet with a blush and ran away grumbling about touchy perverts. Looking at Jiraiya, one could see that his face was one of pure bliss.

The group of women, undeterred, decended uopn the old sage and began to beat the life out of him. During this whole spectacle Naruto was off to the side snickering.

Once their rage subsided and they were satisfied with the now bloody man, the ladies went back about their business.

As Naruto was about to turn around and find somwhere to train Jiraiya shot up from the ground seemingly unfazed by his previous beating. He looked to Naruto, grabbed him by the shoulders and said "I think I'm in love! That womans body was so voluptuous and her boobs were so soft and-"

Naruto spoke. "What are you even talking about? and who are you?"

"Who am I? I am Jiraiya! The one and only toad sage of mount myoboku! Jiraiya exclaimed as he struck a pose. "And for your involvment in getting me so close to such a beautiful woman I will grant you one request."

"Anything?" Naruto asked.

"Anything." Jiraiya repeated.

Naruto thought for a moment before saying "well, I still need a sensei to teach me about ninja stuff."

"Consider it done! And I know just the jutsu to teach you!" Before Naruto could say anything the old sage placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder and shunshined away.

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Suddenly Naruto found himself beside a stream with Jiraiya not too far away.

"Ok kid let's start your training!" Jiraiya declared.

Naruto glared at the man. " Hey you cant just wisk people away like that you old perv!" he exclaimed.

Jiraiya deadpanned. "do you wanna learn this super cool jutsu or not?"

Naruto frowned but kept quiet to listen. "ok" Jiraiya started. "here's what you gotta do. First you need to draw blood" Jiraiya bit his thumb and continue with the lesson. "Then you need 5 handseals, boar, dog, bird, monkey, then ram in that order. And finally... summoning jutsu!" Jiraiya slammed his palm on the ground and in a poof of smoke a giant toad appeared.

Naruto's jaw hit the floor. "that's amazing! I've never seen anything like that before!"

Jiraiya closed his eyes to bask in the praise his new student was giving him. Jiraiya missed the look of determination that flashed across Naruto's face, and by the time he opened his eyes it was too late.

He saw Naruto with a bloody thumb going through the handseals of the summoning jutsu.

"Wait Naruto! you can't--"

"SUMMONING JUTSU!" Naruto rammed his palm into the ground and in the classic poof of smoke... he vanished.

Jiraiya stared dumbfounded at the space that Naruto had just occupied. "This is why I cant have an apprentice! They always do dumb shit and get themselves killed!" Jiraiya exclaimed with anime tears running down his face.

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Naruto found himself in a strange unfamiliar area. It was cold and the air seemed thin. As he looked around he could see only trees. Not knowing where he was he decided to simply walk in one direction until he found something.

and so Naruto started walking. After some time passed Naruto began to hear things. It almost sounded like something was moving through the trees, like something was stalking him waiting for an opportunity to strike.

Naruto looked up to the trees but saw nothing. Unerved at the thought of being hunted down by animals, Naruto began jogging through the forest untill he reached a clearing.

The sound of giant wings beating through the air stopped him in his tracks as he looked to the skies to see three dragons, each the size of a house, decend to the ground and surround him. Each dragron was a different color, the one to his right was red, the one in front of him was blue and the one on his left was green.

Naruto stared at these mythical beasts in awe. He hadn't known that dragons even existed. One of the dragons took this moment to lower his head and inspect Naruto fully. The dragon looked Naruto up and down and finally made eye contact. The dragon stared Naruto down, and Naruto stared back.

Seemingly done with his inspection the dragon raised his head and spoke. **"How have you found this place?"**

"um... the last thing I remember was attempting the summoning jutsu, and then I ended up here. What is this place anyway?" Naruto inquired.

 **"For starters, I shall introduce myself, I am Chishiki and these are my two brothers Chikara"** he said looking to the red dragon. **"and Jaakuna"** he said looking to the green dragon. **"This place is called the throat of the world, it's a mountain home to the dragon summons."**

Naruto grinned at them and introduced himself as well "My name's Naruto Uzumaki" Suddenly Naruto's eyes widened with surprise as he registered what the dragon had said "You guys are summons?!"

At his outburst the three dragons nodded their heads. Naruto grinned in excitement and at the prospect of riding a dragon into battle. With these powerful summons by his side he could finally gain the village's respect and he could become hokage.

Seeing Naruto's excitement the red dragon named Chikara spoke **"calm yourself runt, you cannot summon us."**

Naruto looked to him, confused "Why not? I can perform the summoning jutsu just fine, thats how I got here in the first place."

 **"The summoning jutsu is supposed to bring a summon creature like myself to you, not the other way round. The only plausible reason you could've appeared here is because you did not have a summoning contract at the time you attempted the jutsu, but even then the jutsu should've just failed."** Chishiki commented.

Jaakuna continued **"So you cannot summon us because you have not signed our contract"**

Naruto asked "so all I have to do to summon you is sign your contract?"

Chikara spoke **. "Not just anyone can summon the mighty dragons! To display your worthiness you must first pass a trial, only then will you be able you summon us"**

"Like a test? A test for what?" Naruto questioned.

 **"There are three different sections, my section is a trial of the subconscious mind, Where nothing is hidden and your true self is revealed."** Chishiki responded.

Undeterred Naruto asked "How do I take the test?"

 **"You must** **simply _look into my eyes_** Chishiki said.

Naruto turned to meet the gaze of the dragon and as their eyes met Chishiki's eyes began to gleam with a mysterious intensity.

Naruto could almost feel the dragon peering into his phsyche, as if he wasn't alone in his own head. It was a strange and unsettling feeling, one that made his heart sink.

After about a minute Chishiki's eyes stopped glowing, he shook his head and spoke **"Young and hopeful, yet haunted by the demon he is unaware of, wishing to lead and protect the very people that damned him..."** He squinted his eyes in thought. **"you pass, hold out your wrist."**

Naruto did as he was asked and Chishiki spit a ball of fire that struck his wrist. Although the fire did not cause him pain it left Chishiki's mark behind.

 **"With this mark you will no longer need the hand seals to summon me"**

"Cool!" Naruto was excited that he could now summon a dragon but he wanted to pass the other tests as well.

"Whats next?" Naruto questioned

 **"My test is next runt"** Chikara spoke. **""If you want to gain my mark you must withstand my flame"**

Naruto furrowed his brow and steeled himself for the pain. He held out his wrist for the dragon to begin the test.

 **"You can always turn back runt, my flames burn hotter than hellfire."**

"Do it."

He nodded and took a deep breath, then he released a continuous gout of fire that very slowly singed Chikara's mark onto his wrist.

Naruto gritted his teeth. He could feel every skin cell burn with the intensity of the sun and become ash, but he held strong and endured.

Halfway through the test the stream of fire intensified and the flames turned blue.

'The fire is getting hotter!' Naruto thought.

aaaaAAAGHHH!! Naruto screamed in agony but he refused to back down and after a little while the test was over.

He dropped to his knees and stared at the new mark.

 **"Now's my test! All you have to do is solve a Riddle."** Jaakuna spoke.

Naruto still had an eye closed from the pain and his mind was slightly foggy. 'They must've done that on purpose, to make the riddle harder to solve.'

 **"A man is condemned to death and has to choose between three rooms, one room has raging fires in it, another has deadly trained shinobi, and the last has three lions who haven't eaten in years. Which room is safest?"**

Delirious from the pain Naruto furrowed his brow in deep thought 'The shinobi are way too dangerous so its fire or lions.'

Naruto had never seen a lion but he had read and heard stories of their strength and ferocity.

'A person could... probably live through a fire.'

Resigned to his conclusion he opened his mouth to answer the riddle but just then his stomach growled.

Naruto flinched "ugh this hunger is gonna kill me... wait a fucking minute!!"

He looked up to Jaakuna with a fire in his eyes and said "The answer is room number three"

 **"Why?"**

"Because the Lions haven't eaten for years which means they've already starved to death."

Jaakuna smirked and spit a fireball at Naruto's wrist to place his mark. The three dragons combined their strems of fire to make the summoning scroll appear.

 **"Signing the contract will allow you to summon the rest of the clan"** Chishiki said.

"Do you have like a pen or something?" Naruto asked.

 **"You're supposed to use your blood you idiot."** Chikara spoke

Naruto rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment and bit his thumb to sign the contract.

 **"Now that you've signed our contract you must know that as you are, you cannot summon us whenever you'd like.** Chishiki said.

"What do you mean?"

 **"We will only come to your aid if you are in mortal danger or there is a chance you will take severe damage."** Chishiki stated.

"Why? Is there a way I can overcome this?"

 **"The only way for you to change this is if you gain the title of dragon sage. To do this you must get passed the second most powerful dragon and meet our boss summon."** Jaakuna said.

 **"His name is Mundana and he lives in the cave over there, get passed him to get to our boss and he will grant you the title of dragon sage.** Chikara stated.

Naruto looked over to the cave in the mountainside and readied himself for a fight.

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 _ **Let me know what you think of the story and if you want me to continue it**_

 _ **also leave a review if you spotted the references I made to other games, movies, etc. that have dragons in them.**_


	2. chapter 2

_**Thank you**_ **to everyone that reviewed and shout-out to** _**Novrier**_ _**for taking the time to give constructive criticism (you made very good points) but there are things Id like to explain.**_

 _ **1\. The reason the dragon contract doesn't work like other contracts without the title of dragon sage is because the dragons are simply too powerful.**_ **(They know that if just anyone could summon the dragons the world would descend into chaos)**

 _ **2.**_ _ **"Dragon sage" is just a title that the dragons respect, like Dovahkin, it means he holds great power and potential (He'll eventually train with them like he did with the toads)**_

 _ **3\. As**_ _ **for the trials, each test is related to the dragons name**_.

 _ **Chishiki - intelligence (the blue one)**_

 _ **He looked into Naruto's mind to learn about his past and his ambitions. "Knowledge is half the battle"**_

 _ **Chikara - Strength (the red one)**_

 _ **He respects strength and endurance hence the test of Naruto's pain tolerance**_

 _ **Jaakuna - Devious/Cunning (the green one)**_

 _ **Part of being a good shinobi is being able to trick your opponents, this is why he tests for someone who looks "underneath the underneath"**_

 _ **4\. Last**_ _ **thing**_ , _**I wanted to let the readers imangine the dragons the way they wanted, but if you want me to take a shot at describing them let me know**_ _**(I doubt it'd be very good)**_

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Naruto approached the cave entrance, it was dark and damp. He could see sharp stalagmites drooping down, threatening to pierce him if they came loose.

He inched further into the cave, the saftey of the sunlight fading behind him. As he ventured deeper into the chilling darkness his foot hit something. He glaced down to see what he had tripped on, but he couldn't make out exactly what it was, there wasn't enough light.

He bent down to pick up and examine this object. He turned around to face the direction the sunlight was gleaming through the cave entrance. It was then that he finally knew what he was holding.

He dropped it in shock and began to back away but he tripped and fell backwards.

He glanced around him and saw that the cave floor was littered with skulls and bones, Human and animal alike. A shiver went down his spine, his fear spiked to untold levels and he got the feeling he was being watched.

He stood up and immediately heard the sound of crunching bones behind him. Naruto whipped around and drew a kunai to defend himself. He finally came face to face with Mundana.

He wasn't nearly the size of the other three dragons Naruto had met but he was every bit as intimidating. With a slim and sleek figure and scales black as night Mundana stared at Naruto teeth bared for the world to see.

Naruto could tell that this dragon was built for speed and in Naruto's mind speed was power. One would only need to look at his hero the Fourth hokage to prove that fact.

 **"Have you come to challenge me boy?"** Mundana's voice reverberated throughout the cave.

Naruto was shaking slightly, but he spoke anyway. "I-I have to beat you!"

 **"You? Beat me? If you wish to add to my home decor-** Mundana glances to the pile of bones beside him. **"be my guest"**

 **"Your too weak to be more than a human shield, and even then your to much of a squirt to protect anything"**

Naruto gripped his kunai tightly in anger. Who was this dragon to insult him? He had no idea what Naruto had been through. He had no idea how hard Naruto trained to get to where he is.

 **"Feeling angry little one? Perhaps it's because you know I speak the truth. I'd wager you're the type that talks a big game but freezes when death comes knocking. You're weak!"**

An image of the demon brothers flashed through his mind and he grew increasingly irritated.

Naruto is known to be many things and being brash and impulsive are DEFINITELY some of those things. Naruto, in a flurry of rage sent his kunai sailing towards Mundana.

Seeing this, the dragon smirked and simply batted the small knife away with its wing.

In a burst of speed Mundana sent a barrage of bones flying up from the ground and towards Naruto, like a million pieces of organic shrapnel.

Naruto raised his arms in an X to block some of these deadly projectiles. When the volley was over he could feel the peices of bone that were embedded into his flesh.

Naruto looked to Mundana, only the dragon was no longer there, behind the cover of the barrage he had quickly moved to a new position. The question was, where?

Naruto quickly created two clones and formed a small triangle standing back to back. Each Naruto drew a kunai as their eyes wandered searching for their foe.

Suddenly a poof of smoke could be heard, looking to his right Naruto could see that his clone had been vanquished. Without warning a second poof was heard and before Naruto could process what happened he felt a sharp pain in his back as he was launched forward.

Landing face first into a pile of bones, Naruto could feel three huge claw marks on his back. He rose up to look around but again, the dragon was no where to be seen.

'Kami this thing is fast! At this rate I'll never beat him!' At this thought a lightbulb appeared over Naruto's head... which immediately flickered out but, whatever.

"Hey Mundana! Are you so scared of me that you'll only fight me from the shadows?! Show yourself!"

Chuckling could be heard echoing throughout the cave. Mundana began moving towards Naruto, emerging from the darkness.

 **"Most people would think it unwise to antagonize me."**

Naruto smirked "Yeah well, I'm not most people."

Naruto launched his kunai towards Mundana, aimed for his head. Mundana lifted his wing and blocked the incoming projectile but in the process blocked Naruto from view. The dragon continued his slow trek towards Naruto.

 **"That trick didn't work the first time, what makes you think it would work now?"**

Naruto shrugged and said "I planned a few steps ahead this time"

Naruto quickly kicked up the pile of bones he was standing on sending them flying the same way Mundana had done in the beginning of the fight.

For the third time Mundana began to raise his wing in order to block the incoming shrapnel, but suddenly three of the bones transformed into Narutos. Seeing this, his eyes widened but there was no time to react as one of the clones grabbed ahold of his wing, setting him off balance.

The second clone grabbed his other wing, and the third clone grappled his neck knocking him onto his back and pinning him to the ground.

Quickly the third clone pulled something out of his pouch and held out for the dragon to see.

 **"Flash bomb!"** Mundana struggled to get free but it was too late. The cave was eveloped in a white blinding light that expanded outwards with Mundana at its epicenter.

As the light fadded away Naruto lifted his hands off his eyes and he could see Mundana lightly pawing and rubbing at his eyes, trying to regain his sight.

Naruto ran off into the depths of the cave, as he passed Mundana he laughed and yelled "Take that ya stupid lizard!"

Eventually while delving deeper into the caves he began to see light, he continued to run towards it until the cave expanded into one extremely large room. Naruto skidded to a stop.

"This must be where the boss is" He thought aloud.

As Naruto glanced around he noticed streams of lava flowing in every direction, illuminating the cavern just enough for him to see.

Wandering through the cavern he began to wonder where the boss summon was. He stumbled upon a river of lava, the lava seemed to flow much faster in this river than the other smaller streams so he decided to follow it.

Eventually he discovered a lake of lava and in it lied a dragon so massive that it was comparable in size to the bijuu. It seemed as if the dragon could sense Naruto's presence as he opened his eyes to stare Naruto down.

Naruto became entranced with the beauty of the dragon's eye. There were no pupils but in their place was a continuous swirling image of black with specs of red, white, and blue.

It was as if when Naruto looked into the eyes of this dragon he could see the creation and subsequent infinite expansion of the cosmos. It was then that Naruto was broken out of his trance... the dragon had spoken.

 **"No mortal has made it to my chambers before, what is your name?"**

Naruto gulped, just the mere presence of this being made him doubt himself. Was he worthy to speak while in the company of such a powerful dragon? Naruto could feel the raw power that rolled off this beast in waves, like those guys that put on three bottles of super strong cologne before going somewhere. It was suffocating.

Nevertheless Naruto steeled himself and spoke "My name is Naruto Uzumak... I'm here to become a dragon sage."

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 _ **ooooooo cliff hanger... bummer**_

 _ **tune in next time to find out what happens (It might be awhile untill the next chap just bear with me)**_

 _ **Please review and let me know what you think it really helps me out and makes me want to keep writing.**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**Welcome back you sexy beasts, enjoy my story or don't, not my problem**_

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 **"Naruto Uzumaki... this is a name I will** **remember.** **I** **am Akai Shi** , **king of the dragons."** Naruto chuckled slightly 'The Red Death, a fitting name for a beast so powerful' he thought.

Naruto was about to speak when he heard footsteps behind him. He looked back to see Mundana walking towards him.

His presence put Naruto on edge but it didn't seem like Mundana was there to harm him. The dragon seemed much more relaxed and didnt have that aura of intimidation he had when they fought.

 **"Ahh Mundana there you are, where were you? You haven't forgotten the rules have you?"** **"Of course not my king but this one is rather cunning"** Mundana said while glancing at Naruto.

Naruto looked between the two dragons and questions began to surface.

"Wait, what rules are you talking about?"

Akai shi faced Naruto and spoke **"You've come to become a dragon sage, and there are rules in place that help you to progress through the trials given to you."**

Now Mundana spoke **"For example, when we fought I was not allowed to use my abilities in order to give you a chance to succeed. I was also supposed to escort you into these royal chambers."**

Akai shi's gaze on Mundana intensified. **"And why exactly, did you not escort him here?"**

The smaller dragon shrunk into himself and his gaze met the ground.

 **"The boy had realized that it was imposible to defeat me so he blinded me with a flash bomb, and by the time I regained my sight he was already gone."**

Akai shi seemed to be pondering over something **'So he** **was able to determine the difference in strength between them and still come up with a plan to reach me. Not to mention that he passed the three brother's tests as well... perhaps there is more to this boy than meets the eye.'** he thought.

Ater a moment of thinking Akai shi spoke the words Naruto had been waiting for.

 **"Very well then, I hereby declare you the sole summoner of the dragons and the very first Dragon Sage."** Naruto jumped for joy and in a huge grin, showed off his pearly whites. His face fell however when he saw that Akai Shi rose out of the lava and began to take a deep breath.

Pure white flames spewed from Akai Shi's mouth and enveloped Naruto's upper body.

imediately his classic orange and blue jumpsuit was burnt to cinders.

Surprisingly Naruto wasn't dead. He felt a burning sensation on the left side of his chest but other than that he was fine. Once the gout of flames stopped Naruto looked down to see that he had been branded with the mark of the dragon sage.

The symbol was that of a sleeping dragon, waiting to be disturbed in order to wreak havoc upon his enemies.

Akai shi spoke once more **"The full power of the dragons lies in your hands, use it wisely."**

With that, Naruto was poofed back into his own world. He appeared right where he originally disappeared. Turning his head slightly he could see Jiraiya pacing back and forth in worry.

Naruto chuckled "Whats wrong ya old perv? You worried about me?"

Jiraiya's head shot in the direction of Naruto's voice. Jiraiya straight up tackled Naruto to the ground and said "Oh thank goodness you came back! I don't how I would've told the hokage that one of his citizens was missing because of me if you didn't!!"

Naruto deadpanned "Im great, thanks for asking."

Jiraiya looked at him and said "Oh right, what the hell happened to you? and why do you have no shirt?"

"Well to make a long story short, I was transported to the realm of the dragons and I became a dragon sage" Naruto said while pointing at the symbol above his heart.

Jiraiya's face became serious and he said simply "Tell me everything."

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 _ **please leave a review (it helps a lot)**_ _ **I just thought that I should put something out for you guys so I wrote this little chap**_ _ **If I get enough reviews maybe I'll really try and write more, maybe...**_


	4. Chapter 4

**leave a review!**

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Jariya stood completely stunned by the tale Naruto had just recited. He couldn't believe any of the things he heard and yet Naruto could prove them all.

From the gashes on his back to the mark of the dragon on his chest, Naruto proved that his story was indeed real.

Jariya took a deep breath to calm himself. The things this boy was telling him put him in a state of awe.

To think that the dragons still existed and that this boy was able to summon them! Jiraiya chuckled and thought 'He really is his fathers son'

"So Naruto, did these dragons tell you anything about what they can do or what they can teach you?" Jariya asked.

Naruto shook his head, coming to the realization that all he really saw them do was spit fire.

Jariya held his chin in thought 'there is usually some specialization when it comes to summons'

He couldn't bring himself to believe that every dragon did the exact same thing so he said to Naruto "I want you to summon one"

Naruto looked at him like he'd grown a second head. "Are you crazy?! Those guys are huge! I can't summon them here!"

"Just do it Naruto!"

He huffed as he moved some distance away from Jariya, bit his thumb and started going through the handseals.

He channeled his chakra and slammed his hand onto the ground. In a poof of smoke appeared... a very tiny reptilian.

It was about a foot long, light blue with tiny wings and big eyes. Naruto stared down at his summon, dumbfounded.

"I thought you'd be a lot bigger" Naruto said to the dragon.

The summon looked at Naruto and cocked it's head to the side.

"Can't you speak?" Naruto asked.

In response the dragon cocked its head to the other side.

"Guess not"

Jariya was still stunned in silence but finally his curiosity took over and he asked "so what exactly can he do?"

"I don't know." he responded. Naruto looked to the tiny dragon and said "You wanna show us what you can do little guy?"

The flying reptile now turned it's attention to Jariya. He looked back to Naruto for a moment and then suddenly took off the ground and quickly latched onto Jariya's arm.

"What the-" Jariya was cut off when he saw the summon start sparking. If you looked close enough you could see arcs of electricity dancing around it's small body and in between the spines on its back.

This electric energy was then expelled in a sphere that enveloped most of the toad sages arm. His arm began to convulse violently as pain shot through his system.

Jariya's face scrunched up in pain and he tried to bring his arm up to look at it but it came up to fast and he punched himself in the face sending him thundering to the ground.

Naruto began vehemently laughing as Jariya hit the ground and his summon came running back to him.

The dragon quickly ran up Naruto's arm and jumped up onto his head where he laid down in his soft yellow hair.

Naruto continued chuckling as Jariya tried to figure how to get his arm to do as he commanded but no matter what he tried his arm continued to twitch and spasm.

Jariya growled and he stood up while trying to hold his arm in place.

"Naruto" he started. "Just how big do these things get?"

"I've seen one almost as tall as the hokage tower" Naruto responded.

The old sage's heart stopped as he tried to fathom the kind of havoc a creature like that could inflict.

He glanced toward the small blue summon atop Naruto's head and thought 'especially since this tiny one was able to partially incapacitate me.'

He scoffed 'Imagine a widespread ability like this on the battlefield. Such power!'

"You know, I'm starting to like this little guy" Naruto said while looking upwards.

The "little guy" seemed to sneeze and as a result Naruto's hair puffed out and got even spikier than it already was.

Naruto chuckled and said "I think this calls for a celebration! Come on ero-sensei you're paying for the ramen!"

"Who said I was paying?"

Naruto stopped in his tracks and pointed to his new friend. "I can make him get the other arm you know."

Jariya threw his hands up in surrender, or rather, hand as his other arm was still twitching wildly. He sighed and wondered how long this took to wear off.

In the meantime he might as well enjoy some ramen with his new pupil. Sucks that he has to pay though.

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Naruto was walking down the streets of konoha towards his favorite place in the world. Jariya was walking beside him and his new friend who he had named Seiteki was nuzzled into Naruto's hair. Evidently Jariya's arm had stopped twitching and he was feeling much better.

As Naruto walked he noticed that the villagers were staring. 'Of course they were' he thought 'They always do'

But as he analyzed their features closer he realized that these weren't the stares he'd become accustomed to. Their eyes held no hatred or disgust but instead had shock and fascination.

It seemed that everyone, from the civilians to the off duty shinobi, were taken aback by the creature resting atop his head

Naruto chuckled softly 'Seiteki must really be something for them to not be glaring at me right now.' he thought.

He grinned wide when he saw the ramen shop in the distance. Naruto dashed off and yelled back "Come on ero-sensei I'm hungry!"

"This is going to hurt my wallet" Jariya whined as he caught up with his new pupil.

Naruto took a seat and waited for someone to greet him.

Ayame stepped out of the back as Jariya took a seat next to Naruto.

Her eyes lit up as she saw her favorite customer.

"Naruto-kun! It's been so long how have you been?" She asked.

"I've been good Ayame-nee, it's been kinda hard training for the chunin exams though." he answered.

Ayame smiled but then she noticed some blue in his normally blonde hair. Upon closer inspection she noticed that this blue blob was scaley and moving.

"Naruto-kun what's on your head?" she asked fearfully, knowing him it could be anything.

Naruto lifted the summon off of his head a placed him on the counter top. Ayame finally got a good look at the creature and, small as it may be, it was still rather intimidating.

"This is my dragon summon, I call him Seiteki."

Seiteki looked at ayame and they locked eyes. Even though she was a simple civilian and never had shinobi training of any sort, she could see that this tiny creature held devastating power and pontential. It was locked away waiting to be unleashed.

Jiraiya spoke up for the first time "Didn't we come here for food Naruto?"

"oh right. One bowl of miso ramen for me please."

"same for me"

Ayame tore her eyes away from the summon and said "coming right up" and she went to work on making them their meals.

"Naruto, I'm not sure if you should use your summons in the chunnin exams. They could easily kill your competition"

Naruto looked surprised, He had just gotten the coolest summons and now he couldn't use them?

"Come on pervy sage I'm sure that everything will be fine, plus I know not to summon the really big ones, that's just overkill."

Jiraiya sighed, he glanced toward Seiteki and laughed as the dragon had his tounge out due to the smell of ramen.

Then he got an idea "Naruto!" he shouted startling the blonde. "As soon as we're done here we'll get right back to training, I know exactly what you can do to get stronger!"

Their food had arrived and after they finished eating Jiraiya said to Naruto "I need you to wait at the training grounds while I run some errands."

Naruto deadpanned "You're not gonna peep on the hotsprings again are you?"

Jariya scowled "No. Why don't you have any respect for your elders!"

"Because you're a pervert." Naruto said matter a factly.

Jariya walked away mumbling something about being a super pervert.

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 **When we next see Naruto he will be a good deal stronger than he is now, believe it!**


	5. chapter 5

The time for training was over. Jariya had taught him as best as he could and Naruto felt that he was ready.

He stood in the ring silently, gazing over the immeasurable amount of people looking down from the stands above. He stood next to 6 others, all of them his competition. It seemed that some people were missing. As he looked towards his competition he realized that Sasuke was absent.

Sakura gazed down into the arena and she began to worry. "Where are Naruto and Sasuke? They can't miss this."

Ino looked to her friend in confusion. "Naruto is right there Sakura, standing next to Shikamaru."

"What?" Sakura once again looked into the stadium and glanced to the figure beside Shikamaru. The figure in question looked up into stands and revealed his face. It was definitely Naruto but something was off, the clothes didn't match.

To Sakura's suprise he wasn't wearing his regular orange attire but instead had black shinobi pants and sandals and a chain mesh shirt underneath a blue hooded jacket with the hood up. His sandals were the strangest though as they seemed to have a sort of metal trimming.

'Is that really Naruto?' She wondered

Naruto began to wonder about Sasuke's whereabouts. 'It isn't like Sasuke to miss something like this, even if he had to drag himself here.'

"Alright everyone pay attention, there were some slight changes to the matchups, this is the new roster, take a good look at it."

Everyone analyzed the matchups and after a minute the proctor spoke up once more "The terrain is different than the preliminaries but the rules are the same, the match continues until one contestant either forfeits or dies."

"The contestants for the first match are, Naruto Uzumaki and Neji hyuga, the rest of you can head to the waiting area."

The four others walked off leaving Naruto and Neji alone in the arena. They stared one another down each remembering the last words they'd spoken to each other.

"You got anything to say to me?" Neji sneered.

"Only what I told you the last time! I vow to win!"

Neji analyzed everything about Naruto looking for signs of weakness, he found none.

'He has the look, he's determined and more sure of himself. No matter, destiny has decided me the winner.'

"Let the first match of the finals begin!" The proctor announced.

"I can't wait to see the look of despair on your face when you realize you made a promise you can't possibly ke-"

Neji could not finish his sentence as Naruto flashed in front of him and landed a punch that sent him reeling. He quickly recovered and planted his feet, clutching his nose. He glared at Naruto who was in the same position with his fist still extended.

"I'll show you what happens when you fight destiny!" he roared. Neji broke out into a run and jabbed at Naruto who slapped it away and threw a counter punch. Neji dodged it and once again jabbed at Naruto's chakra points.

They continued this close counter exchange untill Neji gained the upper hand, landing a blow on Naruto's shoulder that sent him rolling back a few feet.

'I missed' Neji thought. "Do you understand now? You have no hope of beating me." he said.

Naruto scoffed "Get real. I was just checking you out is all." Naruto rose up off the ground and formed four clones.

Neji could see the chakra networks of each clone and he noticed they were all identical. All four Naruto clones pulled a kunai and surrounded Neji. The original Naruto stayed back and watched as the clones charged in and as his opponent easily dodged attacks from all sides and danced around his clones as if they were untrained children.

One by one his clones were dispatched by Neji and his gentle fist technique.

'This guy... he must have eyes in the back of his head'

Neji looked over to Naruto menacingly. "Why keep fighting? You were decided the loser once I was picked to be your opponent" Neji stated.

Naruto scowled. "All this talk about destiny, it may be the hyuga way to cave into destiny but it's not mine!" Naruto said with conviction.

Suddenly Naruto's body errupted with energy. You could see small arcs of electricity all around him, and larger ones jumping from from limb to limb and from his fingertips to the ground.

Although his hair was covered by the hood he was wearing you could tell each strand stood straight up.

Neji looked in awe at his opponent. 'What is this?' he wondered. He analyzed Naruto closer.

'Lightning jutsu. No... it's different... it's real! But then where could it be coming from?!'

If one were to look closely they would see something shifting underneath Naruto's blue hood.

"Round number two" Naruto mumbled as he rushed forward towards his enemy.

Naruto blurred out of sight and appeared only inches in front of Neji. Every muscle in Neji's body tensed and he struck out at the blonde blur, reacting on instinct alone.

Naruto ducked under the strike and drove his fist deep into Nejis midsection.

Neji flew back a few feet and rolled to a stop. Naruto's punch had caused some serious pain but what worried him even more was the electric current he could feel coursing through him.

As he tried to rise back up to his feet his body began to convulse violently, resisting each attempt to move.

'Good' Naruto thought. 'His nerves are shot'

"What did you do to me?!" Neji roared in frustration.

"Wouldn't you like to know" Naruto said mockingly.

Neji could see him gearing up for another attack, but he still couldn't maneuver well.

Naruto shot fowards again, rearing back his leg to kick Neji in the chin. Neji had no other option than to just go limp and drop like a sack of potatoes. He fell to the ground and avoided the attack which sailed overhead.

Neji rolled away as best as he could. Naruto continued his offensive onslaught and Neji continued to stumble and dodge untill he once again had full contol over his body.

Neji jumped up onto his feet and scowled at Naruto. He was scuffed up from all of the attacks but he could still fight.

'So my cloak isn't as potent as Seiteki's attacks. I just need another solid hit, but this guy's like a slippery snake' Naruto thought.

Neji also took this moment of calm to analyze his opponent. He realized that whatever this cloak was it increased Naruto's speed and strength while also making each attack debilitating.

'It is a quite deadly technique.' He thought.

'But there must be a way around it.'

Both fighters were ready for another bout. They shot foward and began trade blows, each one dodging the others strikes knowing how dangerous they were.

Naruto threw a punch aimed at Neji's head. Neji slipped it and aimed a strike at a chakra point in Naruto's shoulder. Naruto dodged to the side and sent a kick towards Nejis midsection.

The kick was moving much faster than his punches. 'Must use rotation!' Neji thought.

He began to emit chakra from his whole body but the attack was too fast. The kick struck him and sent him stumbling. Naruto pressed his advantage and attacked again, but to his surprise Neji dodged it and created some distance between them.

Naruto looked in awe at Neji who seemed to be checking the nerve response in his limbs. Nejis was surprised as well when he dodged that attack, he suddenly realized that the chakra he emited for his rotation dampered Naruto's electrical cloak.

Now Neji had the upper hand. For the first time he went on the offensive. He ran at Naruto and as Naruto lashed out with another kick, Neji coated his arm in chakra and caught it in the crease of his arm.

Naruto's eyes went wide as Neji began to strike the chakra points in his leg. Naruto brought his other leg up and kicked at Nejis head. Neji blocked it but it rocked him and he released his grip on Naruto.

He used this opportunity to escape, but the damage had been done. Naruto's leg was beginning to tense up.

Naruto increased the distance between them once again. it seemed that for now the battle would continue this way, with short bursts of action and then separation.

To engage in close combat for an extended period of time was dangerous for both contenders.

Neji had recovered from the kick and was now analyzing Naruto in the same way. If the battle continued this way one of them may very well drop dead.

'His legs are dangerous' Neji thought

'I can't believe he already found a way around my cloak!' thought Naruto.

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"I can't believe he's really going toe to toe with Neji Hyuuga! And he's holding his own!" Shouted Ino.

Sakura was staring down at Naruto in awe, she couldn't believe that person in the arena was her goofy teammate.

'The teammate I always put down for being weak.' Sakura thought solemnly.

"I guess Naruto's a lot stronger than you thought huh Sakura?" Ino said turning to her friend.

"Yeah, I guess so"

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It only took a minute but Naruto and Neji were both ready to fight once more.

It was Naruto who closed the distance. When in range Naruto threw a right hook trying to catch Neji by surprise, but his opponent was prepared.

Moving his head out of the way Neji struck chakra points in Naruto's arm as it passed by. In realization Naruto quickly retracted his arm and kicked at Nejis left side.

Nejis eyes went wide as the lightning fast kick struck him, but not before he could damper the effects of the cloak. When the kick landed Neji fliched and Naruto used this split second to press the advantage.

Naruto landed two solid hits into Nejis gut and one straight to his face that snapped his head back. Neji brought his arms up to defend.

Naruto saw this and started to lauch another kick. When Neji once again saw Naruto's leg moving at blistering speed he brought his arms down to defend, fearing the power of his kicks, but it was a feint.

As soon as Nejis arms were out of the way Naruto stopped his kick and pummeled him with as many punches as he could to his face and body.

'I have to turn the tide!' Neji thought in fustration.

Neji coated his hand in chakra and as Naruto threw another powerful punch Neji caught it and retaliated with a palm stike to Naruto's jaw that snapped his head to the side and dazed him.

'What happened?' Naruto thought. 'Wasn't I just winning?'

The crowd in the stands were roaring and buzzing with energy seeing the intensity of these hand to hand bouts.

Neji, now having the upper hand, struck as many chakra points as he could in Naruto's chest and arms.

Naruto could feel every blow land, he could feel at least 10 or 12 strikes. Growing frustrated Naruto suddenly jumped into the air and brought up his knee to meet Nejis chin.

Neji quickly tilted his head and jumped back. Naruto saw this as an opportunity and once more retreated to a safe distance.

Naruto began to cough up some blood and he dropped to a knee breathing heavily. There was a strange wheezing sound coming from him and he realized that it was now very hard to breathe.

As he looked over to Neji he could see that blood and bruises covered his face and as he looked even closer he could see Nejis entire body shaking and convulsing slightly.

'He was able to adapt quickly in order to stay in the fight, if I dont change tactics now one of us is gonna die.' Naruto thought.

Naruto strained to get to his feet.

'I wasn't expecting to use this in my first fight but there's no helping it.' Naruto thought.

Naruto began to slowly reach for his hood.

Neji looked on curiously but stood tense and ready for another fight, but what happened next stunned him, as well as the rest of the crowd.

The stands were full of cheering people and excitement but now it was deathly quiet. Each member of the audience was stunned into silence.

Naruto had pulled down his hood to reveal Seiteki, a lump of blue laying in his blonde hair. Suddenly being exposed to light made him perk up.

Seiteki blinked a couple times and took in the area.

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There was complete silence up in the stands. The audience stood there, mouth agape, staring down at Naruto.

Then people began to whisper.

"What is that?"

"What's he doing?"

"I think that's a dragon!"

Sakura's eyes widened as she overheard that last one. She looked to Naruto in amazment now.

'How strong have you gotten Naruto?' She wondered.

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Neji stared dumbfounded at the creature before him. He'd never heard of anything like it, and yet, there it was in the possession of someone he'd deemed a non-redeemable loser.

"Seiteki, keep him where his is" Naruto said to his summon.

Seiteki let out a low growl in confirmation and Naruto brought up his arms and crossed his fingers.

Realization flashed through Nejis mind as he saw the hand sign. He began to close the distance but a bolt from seiteki almost too fast for him to dodge zipped by him and stopped him in his tracks.

Neji locled eyes with the summon for a split second before a barrage of eletric bolts were sent hurtling towards Neji.

It took everything he had to dodge them and he couldn't move toward Naruto at all. Naruto on the otherhand was struggling to gather his chakra. So many of his chakra points were closed off he didn't even really know if he could make shadow clones, but he was trying. He just needed some time.

Neji struggled to dodge these lightning shots but he knew he needed to stop Naruto from making clones.

He quickly backflipped to avoid a shot and in midair pulled out two kunai. He planted his feet and before Seiteki could fire more shots, launched them at Naruto.

Suddenly there was a puff of smoke and three clones appeared in front of the original, two of them holding a kunai.

Seiteki shot up into the air and Neji followed his movement. Just then the two clones threw the kunai and rushed foward. Neji was able to dodge one kunai and catch the other.

'Perfect' The Narutos thought collectively.

Seiteki fired another shot but with his Byakugan he saw that the aim was off so he kept his focus on the clones.

Neji's eyes widened as he felt pain shoot through his arm.

'The kunai!' Neji roared.

He hastily dropped the now electrified object but it was too late, the nerves in his arm were shot and the clones were upon him.

He took the jyuuken stance as best he could with one arm. As the first clone rushed toward him Neji spun and kicked the clone in the head that sent him sprawling to the ground.

'One down' Neji thought as he heard a poof.

The two remaining clones engaged him together while the original stood back. Neji could only dodge their attacks as he waited to regain movement in his other arm.

He now found himself surrounded by the three Naruto's in a sort of triangle. He remembered how in the beginning of the fight Naruto's clones rushed in.

'I can use rotation to dispatch of all of them simultaneously' Neji thought

Just as he suspected they all charged forward but as Neji began to expel his chakra and rotate his body Seiteki shot a bolt that stunned him.

The Naruto's continued their charge and took hold of Neji, capturing both his arms putting him in a headlock.

"Now Seiteki!" The original yelled.

The dragon began to plummet at an incredible speed and he was headed straight for Neji. Seiteki smacked into Nejis chest with enough force to knock the air out of his lungs and he latched on.

With Seiteki now in place the original released the headlock and watched as his summon began to glow and spark violently. Within the second Neji and the clones were enveloped in a sphere of electrical energy and the clones dispersed.

Neji fell onto his back smoking slightly and Seiteki took to the sky once more. Neji stared up to the clouds dazed and tired. He could see a dark silhouette soaring through the sky.

A bird free from its cage.

"The winner is Naruto Uzumaki!"

The stadium erupted into cheers and shouts of congratulations. Naruto simply looked up to them and smiled one of his rare genuine smiles.

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	6. Chapter 6

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Naruto was walking up the steps to the waiting area, very slowly. He was holding on the railing and his breathing was ragged. Every step filled his legs with pain.

Neji had got some good shots in. Naruto chuckled to himself.

'They don't call him a prodigy for nothing.' he thought.

He grew more serious as an image of Sasuke falshed through his mind. He tightened his grip on the railing and his knuckles turned white.

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As he entered the waiting area he could see the konoha 12 minus Sasuke and Neji. When he entered the area it suddenly got very quiet.

He could tell that everyone was taking glances at him as he walked to stand next to Shikamaru. In the case of Sakura she was outright staring.

He stood next to the shadow user and asked "How's it going Shika?"

He responded in his usual monotonous voice. "Troublesome. Hey Naruto... what exactly is that thing?" He asked pointing to Seiteki who was still stretching his wings over the arena.

Naruto smiled broadly, raised two fingers to his mouth and whistled. Seiteki quickly changed direction and headed straight for his summoner.

Seiteki landed on his head once more and began to netsle into his hair.

"This is my little buddy Seiteki, he's a dragon summon." Naruto stated while looking up at his blue friend.

'A dragon summon? I didn't know dragons existed, I thought they were a myth' Shikamaru thought.

It seemed everyone else in the waiting area thought the same because none of them could take their eyes off of this living legend. As small as Seiteki was, especially conpared to the rest of his family back home, he managed to stun these young ninja into silence.

Suddenly Seiteki began to spark. Miniscule arcs jumped between the spines on his back. Seiteki reared his head back and... sneezed. All of Naruto's hair instantly puffed up giving him a sort of blonde afro.

Noise came back to the waiting area then, some of them laughed others started asking questions, enamored with this cute but dangerous creature.

Strangely, one of the loudest members of the konoha 12 was now silent. Sakura stood back watching as Naruto turned from person to person answering questions or laughing with them. She suddenly felt very alone.

'He didn't even look at me when he got up here' She thought.

Frowning she furrowed her brow and stomped up to the blonde. She grabbed him and pulled him slightly aside.

When their eyes met Naruto's smile dropped ever so slightly but no one could see that.

"Whats up Sakura?" he asked politely

Looking at her Naruto could tell she was upset about something. He simply stared at her and waited for a response.

Sakura shifted uncomfortably as he stared at her, why had she come up to him? Why did she care whether or not he greeted her? Was it because of his new found strength? or something else? These were the questions flowing through Sakura's mind and as Naruto began to speak she found an answer.

"Naruto, do you think you could help me train?" She asked with a blush. Although Sakura decided to go with strength as her answer for approaching him, there was something else gnawing at the back of her mind.

After hearing her question Naruto was out right frowning. But a sad smile came to his face, almost as if he was reflecting on something.

"You see Sakura..." He started.

"The past me would've loved to help you train but spending time with ero-sennin helped me realize something. You only ever talk to me when you want something from me."

"That's not true!" Sakura objected.

"There have been so many times where you could've genuinely become my friend, hell, I wanted us to be even more than that, but every time you shot me down. You don't get anymore second chances Sakura."

Having said his peace Naruto turned and walked away. Sakura was now painfully aware of the lack of her usual Chan suffix and it stung. Bad.

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Naruto drifted back over to Shikamaru and friends. Naruto was feeling good, When Jiraiya first explained to him how toxic Sakura was he refused to believe it, but the more he thought about it the more sense it made. He was hoping that maybe since he changed during his training Sakura would've too, but Jiraiya always said he was too optimistic.

A voice pulled him from his thoughts. "By the way, that was a pretty good fight Naruto. I might be losing my mind but I actually think you were using your head." Shikamaru joked.

Naruto laughed "I picked up a thing or two while training"

A voice was heard from down in the arena.

"The next match is between Sasuke Uchiha and Gaara of the sand, will the contestants please enter the arena." said the proctor.

Gaara was there in an instant. He had a very calm exterior but with every passing second his killing intent increased.

Both the proctor and the crowd waited silently for the Uchiha. The last of his clan, finally they would be able to see him in action.

Time continued to fly by and Naruto began to worry. 'Where is he?' Naruto thought. 'At this rate he'll be disqualified and I wont get my fight!

A full minute passed and the proctor broke the silence. "The contestant Sasuke Uchiha has failed to enter the arena and thus is disqualified from the exams."

There were shouts from the crowd, but in that moment smoke errupted from the arena's center and as it cleared it revealed a raven haired boy and his cyclops of a sensei.

"Yo... we're not late are we?" Kakashi asked nonchalantly.

"Just a little." was the proctors response. After a moment word passed down to the proctor that Sasuke Uchiha was not to be disqualified and the fight would proceed as planned.

 **AN: The fight was not pushed back like in cannon** **.**

"That's a relief" Kakashi mumbled. He stepped out of the arena leaving Sasuke and Gaara to face off. Sasuke stared down his foe, not forgetting the tragedy that befell his previous opponent.

Gaara on the other hand had a calm exterior that betrayed the look in his eyes. His eyes held the look of a hungry predator and nothing else.

"Begin!" the proctor shouted.

Sasuke wasted no time and threw some kunai that were easily stopped by Gaara's sand. In an instant Sasuke vanished from sight and appeared behind Gaara, he threw a punch that mirrored the form of Rock Lee. He landed a blow to the face that sent Gaara flying.

'He's like the other one' Gaara thought.

Slowly Gaara rose to his feet and stared Sasuke down, daring him to attack once more.

Sasuke obliged. He rushed in and ducked under an attack closing the distance quickly. When he was in range Sasuke doubled Gaara over with a kick and followed up with another punch to his face.

This time however, Gaara was not sent flying, in fact he didn't move at all. The reason for this was a solid wall of sand that was being used as a brace, keeping him standing.

Sasuke tried to retreat but couldn't detatch his hand from Gaara's face. From his doubled over position Gaaras locked eyes with his prey.

His faced seemed to be melting into sand and that sand was slowly making it's way up Sasuke's arm, trapping him. Sasuke's eyes widened in surprise.

'He released his sand armor in order to trap me!' Sasuke realized.

"Did you think you could fight me like the other one? Did you think that I wouldn't adapt when a weakness was exposed?!" Gaara let out a frightening cackle as he delighted in his opponent helplessness.

Sasuke screamed in pain as the sand covering his left hand and wrist attempted to crush it. Fortunately for him the sand from just Gaara's armor wasn't able to place enough pressure to break the bone. It was fractured but not broken.

Almost simultaneously, a tendril of sand wrapped itself around his leg and threw him into the stadium walls causing it to crack.

Gaara kept up the onslaught and tried to crush Sasuke under, you guessed it, more sand. Sasuke quickly rolled out of the way and got on his feet. He continuously dodged attack after attack before reaching into his pouch, pulling as many smoke bombs as he could and tossing them into the air.

They burst and covered the battleground in thick smoke. Sasuke activated his sharingan giving him the advantage. Even through all the smoke Sasuke could see Gaara and the sand he pumped his chakra through.

Gaara was turning in every direction at every little sound looking for his opponent.

"Come out Sasuke Uchiha! Mother wants your blood!"

'What's wrong with this guy?' Sasuke thought. He quickly thought of a plan and reached into his bag for another kunai. Recalling the terrain, He could distinctly remember some trees that stood tall on the other side of the arena.

Sasuke pictured his surroundings as best as he could and tied a paper bomb to his kunai. Launching the kunai across the arena Sasuke allowed himself a moments celebration as he heard the thunk of a kunai hitting wood.

Gaara quicky turned to this sound showing his back to Sasuke and as the paper bomb exploded, two things happened.

One, Sasuke began to charge up his trump card.

Two, Gaara began to wildly attack anything he could in the direction the explosion came from, laughing as he did. After a minute of attacking without hearing any screams of death and pain Gaara stopped to listen once more.

He turned to a new sound that was coming from behind him. It sounded like chirping birds and it was getting closer very quickly. Through the smoke Gaara could see a blue glow screeching toward him, and before he could react it was in front of him.

Sasuke reared back and attempted to pludge his arm through his opponents chest but at the last moment a pillar of sand shot up slowing down the attack significantly.

Sasuke's hand went through the pillar and stopped just before Gaara's heart, drawing blood in the process. Sasuke was stuck once more but Gaara was too stunned to take advantage.

Gaara stared down as he felt a warm liquid touch his skin. He finally came to the realization that he was bleeding.

Suddenly Gaara let out the loudest most blood curdling scream that made everybody's hairs stand on end. Even the kage were standing at full attention now, although for different reasons.

Sasuke gulped and his heart started to race as he futilely struggled to escape.

The sand began to move erratically in every direction with most of it swirling around Gaara as he continued to scream.

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Temari, kankuro and their sensei Baki were in the stands dumbfounded as to what just happened. They had shot out of their seats in panic after seeing Sasuke use his Chidori.

"He hurt him! He actually hurt him!" Temari exclaimed.

"This isn't good! He wouldn't transform right now would he?!" yelled Kankuro

"Let's hope not. The entire operation hinges on Gaara. Transformation _this early_ would be disastrous. We just aren't ready, and if that boy is anything to go on, the leaf shinobi are tough." Baki calmly stated.

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Gaara had never stopped screaming and as he continued, the screams became more pained and animalistic. His sand seemed to be consuming him now. It crawled out from the gourd on his back onto the right side of his face and down his right arm, morphing him into a half human half sand beast.

The sand was gathering around Gaara and molding onto his body. What was holding Sasuke hostage had retreated to form part of Gaara's transformed arm.

Although he was free, Sasuke could only stare at the monster that stood before him. The killing intent radiating off of him was palpable. Gaara's half demonic face looked up and locked eyes with Sasuke.

One of his eyes was yellow and his teeth on that side had been elongated into razor sharp knives. Sasuke could feel that eye gazing into him, promising one thing.

Death.

Sasuke gulped and took a step back. In that same instant Gaara swung his transformed arm through the air, batting Sasuke away like a fly.

Sasuke's body soared through the air and rolled to a stop on the ground. The power of that one swipe was enough to crack ribs.

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Everyone in the stands were buzzing with excitement, waiting to see what would happen next. They were all wondering if Gaara was even human and if the Uchiha boy still had a chance.

Strangely, feathers to began to fall in front of their faces, and their excitement was replaced by a drowsey feeling. One by one citizens began to fall into a deep sleep.

Higher level ninja like Kakashi and perceptive genin like shikamaru quickly dispelled the genjutsu.

Unfortunately in Naruto's case, he was sleeping with his face on the dirty floor. On the other hand, Seiteki was still up and about. The dragon delivered a small shock to Naruto jolting him back into the real world.

"Whaaa...?" was what Naruto mumbled out.

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"That's the signal to move out. Prepare yourselves." Baki said as he prepared for battle.

"But wait it's still too early! There's no way that all of our forces are prepared for the assault yet!" Temari shrieked.

Baki gave his student a hard glare.

"The signal was given, now it's time for you to do your job!"

Temari was shaking, her nerves were all over the place. Regardless, she grabbed her fan and got ready.

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Sand and sound shinobi began to pour out of their hiding places, clashing with the leaf shinobi. At the sight of this the third hokage prepared himself for what he knew would come next.

In that moment the "kazekage" attacked and the battle was on.

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Naruto was slowly rising up from the floor trying to comprehend what was happening. There were tiny skirmishes breaking out all over the stadium, but why?

"Naruto!" he heard a voice yell. It was Sakura, she was running toward him.

"What's happening?" Naruto frantically asked.

"The sand and sound are attacking the village! Kakashi sensei told me to go around and break as many people out of the genjutsu as I can."

'So that's what put me to sleep' Naruto thought.

He looked around and focused his gaze in the center of the arena. The fight between Sasuke and Gaara was still raging on and it was not looking good for Sasuke.

Without saying another word to Sakura he leaped over the railing and down into the arena with Seiteki following close behind.

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Sasuke was getting battered. He just couldn't compete with the power of Gaara's transformation. He dodged as many hits as he could but there was no end in sight.

In an open field like this with nowhere to hide and no way to retreat all Sasuke could do was survive.

Suddenly, for the first time Gaara stopped his relentless attacks and turned to catch a kunai in his sand arm. In the next second there was an explosion and the sand was blown off of his arm.

Naruto landed next to Sasuke. "You alright?" he asked.

Gaara glared with pure hatred at the blonde ninja as his arm reformed.

"I didn't ask for your help" Sasuke said.

"But you needed it." Naruto replied.

He sent a glare over to Naruto but noticed Seiteki sitting on his head. He blinked and for a moment wondered if he was seeing things. In the end he decided to ask about it later.

"Seiteki" Naruto whispered "Get his other arm."

Seiteki nodded and quickly fired an electric shot that slammed into Gaara's regular arm. Pain shot through his body but was dampered on his transformed side.

Naruto quickly activated his electric cloak and kicked Gaara in the head, which caused him to stumble a bit. Sasuke didn't miss the opening and rushed in the plant his foot in Gaara's chest sending him tumbling backwards.

As Gaara got back on his feet Naruto and Sasuke continued to keep up the pressure. Their string of combo attacks finally ended with Sasuke kicking the back of his leg to bring him to his knees and Naruto following up with a hard kick to Gaara's face.

They both stepped back. They were breathing hard, but felt proud of themselves and of their teamwork.

But alas, Gaara rose to his feet once more. There was glint in his bloodshot eye, like he was enjoying this. More and more sand began to latch onto his body, leaving only his legs exposed and forming a tail.

"I think we made him angry" Naruto quipped.

"Why won't he just stay down?!" Sasuke shouted.

Gaara placed both his hands on the ground in front of him and took up a strange position.

Naruto realized what he was going to do but it was too late. "Oh, shit" was his only thought.

It played like slow motion in his head. Gaara propelled himself forward using his arms, shooting past Naruto and grabbing Sasuke in his hands. Gaara continued to soar through the air until he slammed Sasuke into the concrete walls.

Naruto heard the impact before he could even turn around to see what happened. As he turned to see, Gaara punched Sasuke with all his might, pushing him deeper into the hole in the concrete and knocking him unconscious.

Gaara was about to keep going until the Uchiha was dead but he was hit by one of Seitekis attacks. He turned to look at Naruto, completely unfazed.

Gaara's yellow, inhuman eyes glowed with murderous intent as he prepared to repeat what he'd just done. But as he took the same stance, he suddenly began to scream incoherently.

"Yes mother..." he said shakily after some time.

"Sleep possum jutsu."

Gaara errupted into a mountain of sand that took the form of a gargantuan tanuki. It was shukaku the sand spirit.

Naruto looked up at this beast with a sense of hopelessness. Unconsciously, he glance at his wrist. The sleeve was rolled back just enough to expose Chishiki's mark. They were his last hope, but it would take almost everything he had to summon them.

Naruto pulled back his sleeve, bit his thumb and wiped the blood across all three marks. There were two giant poofs of smoke and Naruto dropped to his hands and knees, completely exhausted.

In front of him stood Chishiki and Chikara in all their magnificence. Seeing these two stand in front of him, he felt hope return to his heart.

Breathing heavily Naruto mumbled "I still have a chance."

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	7. Chapter 7

Chishiki and Chikara stood proudly side by side in front of Naruto, as if they were his shields protecting him from harm.

Chishiki stood calmly and seemed to be prepared for anything. Chikara on the other hand, seemed estatic. He was almost bouncing with excitement.

 **"The first time you summon me and you pit me against Shukaku? I'm beginning to like you brat!"**

 **"You seem very pleased brother."** Chishiki noted.

 **"Of course I am, it's been too long since my last true fight."** Chikara stated.

Naruto was still on the ground observing the two dragons before him. It was then he realized there was a brother missing.

"Hey, where's Jaakuna?" He asked.

Chishiki turned to him upon hearing the question.

 **"You attempted to summon all of us at once but did not have enough chakra. You are now suffering from minute chakra exhaustion. Notice the ragged breathing and fatigue."**

"So summoning you two took everything I had? Then... will I ever be able to summon **_him_**?!" Naruto said as an image of the dragon king flashed through his mind.

 **"In any case, I recommend you sit back and let us handle the threat. We are not at full strength without our brother but we should be able to handle the one tails."**

Naruto nodded his head and slowly made his way over to where Sasuke was still imbedded in the wall. As he approached the battle between beasts had begun but he ignored it for the moment.

Naruto dropped down and pulled Sasuke out of his hole and checked his pulse. Naruto let out a sigh of relief upon feeling a slow but steady pulse.

With the thought of Sasuke's untimely death out of his mind, he now focused his attention on the battle unfolding before him.

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As Naruto was making his way towards Sasuke, Shukaku and the dragons sized each other up. Chikara and Chishiki were smaller than Shukaku but they had many advantages. For one, there were two of them. They were also much more agile and together they had sufficient fire power.

Within an instant the battle roared to life and every living creature in the area could feel the power emanating from these three.

Chikara was the first to attack, spitting out a fireball that exploded upon contact with Shukaku's face sending blackened sand in every direction. The damage was minimal and regenerated in a matter of seconds. It would take much more to take down one of the bijuu.

Shukaku responded by hurling dense balls of sand at an incredible speed towards the two dragons. Reacting quickly they both took to the skies to dodge the attack. The sand impacted the ground, sending dirt and rocks many feet into the air.

Without hesitation Chikara exhaled white hot flames that engulfed Shukaku as he tried his best to block it with his arm.

Chishiki held back and watched intently, analyzing his opponent before deciding on the best course of action.

As Chikara's flames died down he was preparing to dive in and shatter the glass that was created, but upon closer inspection Shukaku's arm had only been blackened and was smoking slightly.

Chikara, seeing that his flames were ineffective, quickly retreated and met up with Chishiki to see if he came up with anything.

 **"His sand is more heat resistant than I thought, what can we do?"** Chikara asked.

 **"I thought I told you to consult with me before attacking."** Chishiki said slightly irritated.

They quickly had to seperate in order to dodge a powerful air bullet shot from below.

Chikara deadpanned and asked **"Is this really the time?"**

 **"I suppose not. In any case if your flames do not work we must work together. If we combine our breath attacks then we may be able see significant results."**

 **"You use too many fancy words brother."**

 **"Yes, yes I know"** he said exasperated.

Suddenly Shukaku's arm cut through the air, nearly knocking Chikara out of the sky. Chishiki looked down in confusion, as they should've been out of his range for physical attacks.

The arm fell back down to the ground causing the ground to shake. Chishiki could see that it was disturbingly long. Evidently Shukaku had taken the sand from his other arm and moved it to make one extremely long arm-like lasso.

He continued to fling this monstrosity into the air cackling like a mad man while he did it. It cut through the air with surprising speed and would do serious damage if it actually connected.

Luckily for the dragon duo Shukaku somehow managed to hit himself in the head while the arm fell back down to earth, causing him to get angry and throw it into the arena wall instead.

 **"He's insane."** Chishiki noted.

* * *

30 feet to the right of where Naruto was sat with Sasuke, the arena wall exploded. Shukaku's casual toss of his arm had obliterated the solid concrete barrier.

Naruto's heart was pounding and he desperately wanted to move to a safer area but he didn't have the energy and he didn't want to leave Sasuke unattended. He could not believe the power that this creature held and was also amazed that his summons were holding out.

He moved his attention to the surrounding area, the sand and sound shinobi were being dealt with slowly and their numbers were dwindling. Naruto's eyes widened for a moment as he realized something.

The Kage seats were empty and that only meant one thing. He searched every inch in his immediate vicinity before seeing some explosions going off on a nearby rooftop. He could vaguely make out two figures clashing.

Naruto's heart seemed to stop.

'Jiji is strong but he's too old to fight! If that's really him over there why is no one helping?!'

Naruto was ripped from his worries by a feeling of life threatening danger and his attention was brought back to the battle between beasts.

* * *

Chishiki and Chikara were trying to keep their distance. They felt Shukaku gathering power and wanted to be cautious.

Orbs of blue and red were gathering together to form a dark sphere in front of Shukaku's mouth. They ccould tell from the look of this thing that being hit by it meant certain death.

Shukaku had completely formed the orb and aimed it at Chikara, who was going to begin flying up into the clouds as to not be seen.

His ascent was cut short however as something grabbed onto one of his legs. A stiff pillar of sand had extended from where Shukaku threw his arm and was keeping him in place.

Chikara struggled to escape and even tried once again to utilize his flames but Shukaku launched his attack. The bijuu bomb, this orb of pure destructive energy was hurtling towards Chikara and for the first time he felt completely powerless.

As the bijuu bomb was mere inches from his body, he errupted into smoke and disappeared. Naruto had sent him back to the throat of the world.

The sphere of death continued on into the air and exploded, blasting away every cloud in the sky.

Although he was relieved his brother had escaped in time, now Chishiki was left alone to face off against the one tails.

 **'My chances of success have dropped significantly'** He thought.

He had an idea but without Chikara it would be much harder.

Shukaku seemed to be celebrating the fact the he "killed" Chikara and Chishiki took this moment to land next to Naruto.

 **"I need your help, do you know any fire jutsu?"** he said cutting to the chase.

"No, but..." Naruto looked down at Sasuke.

He knelt down and shook the boy while also yelling in his ear. Surprisingly, even after the damage he took, Sasuke awoke looking confused.

"Sasuke we need your help, can you stand?"

He was dazed and flinching from the pain, and then he saw what Gaara had become. He couldn't believe that monster used to be a person.

He was also completely astounded at the sight of a giant lizard with wings. It wasn't even the fact that dragons were real that caused him to falter, but more that in the presence of this creature, the power of human shinobi seemed insignificant.

Naruto's words finally sunk in and he nodded.

Sasuke slowly began to rise, using the wall as support. He could feel his muscles aching and every draw of breath caused him pain.

As he righted himself he asked "What do you need me for?"

 **"We should get off the ground first, I will inform you afterwards."**

Chishiki quickly scooped them up and tossed them onto his back before taking off once again. He soared above Shukaku's head which caused the bijuu to refocus his attention.

Shukaku was quick to resume attacking and shot four air bullets hoping to knock Chishiki out of the sky.

 **"Hang on tight!"**

Chishiki rolled left and right to avoid the attacks and when he saw an opportunity he struck. The dragon brother opened his mouth and something began to take form, gathering in front of his maw.

It shaped into a point, almost like a bullet, but it seemed to chill the air around it. As a matter of fact the moisture in the air was freezing upon contact and wisps of chilling smoke fell off it before dissipating.

Naruto was amazed at the sight before him.

'It's an ice attack! I thought dragons only used fire. I can't wait to learn more!' Naruto thought.

Chishiki propelled the icicle forward, and then he shot another and another. Each one pierced Shukaku's body and crashed into the ground behind him, leaving gaping holes in their wake.

But the sand spirit, ever resilient, stood unfazed as the holes in his body closed slowly.

 **'It is as I feared, we need a way to destroy the whole body at once.'**

"How can we do that? He's huge!" Naruto exclaimed.

 **'This is where your friend comes in. If he combines his fire with my ice--"**

"The water will melt his body!" Naruto interrupted.

 **"Precisely"**

Sasuke stayed silent. This was all so strange to him, almost as if he was dreaming. Dragons and monsters? It just seemed so unreal. But there he was, hundreds of feet off the ground and on the back of a talking dragon... Maybe he _was_ dreaming.

"Can you do it Sasuke?" Naruto roused him from his thoughts.

"What?"

"Can you use your fire with his ice?"

Sasuke was about to say "I don't know" that he wasn't sure he had the chakra, but there was something about the way Naruto was looking at him. Like he was trying to figure out exactly how strong Sasuke was, trying to figure out if he was better.

Sasuke grew determined and nodded, he then moved to stand on Chishiki's head, better positioning himself for what was to come.

"Ready" Sasuke said.

Chishiki unleashed a wave of what looked like smoke, but in reality it was trillions upon trillions of tiny, razor sharp ice shards. An attack like that would quickly rend the flesh off of any who stood in its path.

Sasuke immediately went through the hands signs and released his flames. The combination attack resulted in a torrent of water crashing down onto the tailed beast, soaking into his body and causing it to slide and shift unnaturally.

 **"Get your nasty liquids off me!"** Shukaku roared

Sasuke's flames began to die down but Naruto couldn't let that happen, the sand demon was still standing. Naruto placed his hand on Sasuke's back and instantly the Uchiha could feel it.

It felt like two bodies of water being connected, except that Naruto's was vastly larger than his own. Even though Naruto was also running low on chakra Sasuke could feel just how cavernous his reserves really were.

'When did you get this strong?' Sasuke wondered.

The flames roared back to life as what was left of Naruto's chakra came rushing in. The water continued to pour down on Shukaku who futility tried to escape. His limbs were crumbling, barely holding together and he continued to rant all the while.

Finally, Naruto and Sasuke gave out, panting and out of breath they peered down to see a huge uneven pile of wet sand. Some parts of the pile were towered up and huge and the rest was almost flat.

Chishiki seemed very pleased with himself but Naruto and Sasuke were too tired to even celebrate.

Sasuke seemed to have it worse, his eyes were heavy and it looked like he was going to fall unconscious once again.

"You okay?" Naruto asked.

"Not dead...Just...don't drop me." Sasuke droned out. He let sleep take him and went limp.

Naruto snorted at the thought of Sasuke falling off Chishiki but held him securely.

"We should land now" Naruto said.

Chishiki obliged and landed in the arena where there was the least sand. Naruto hopped off his back and set Sasuke down to rest. Suddenly he heard a rumbling.

It was coming from the largest pile of sand. As Naruto stared at it he could see it moving slightly, and then he could see yellow eyes peering at him.

Shukaku was still alive!

His limbs were all but dissolved, his face was disfigured and his body was halfway melted into the ground but he was still there. Somehow this dissolved, melted version of Shukaku was even more terrifying than the original.

The sand where Shukaku's mouth would be began to part slowly and just like before blue and red orbs began to gather.

Chishiki acted quickly, blowing out his chilling smoke and flapping his wings to spread the cold faster. The effect was almost instant, The water soaked in Shukaku was rapidly chilled and he began to frost over, causing the attack to stop.

Naruto let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and thanked Chishiki before moving to finish the fight once and for all. He searched through Sasuke's pouch and grabbed all the explosive tags he could and combining them with his own he rolled them into a ball of death.

Naruto aimed for Shukaku's still open mouth and chucked the explosives in.

 **"Kobe"** Chishiki muttered.

"What?"

 **"Nothing"**

Naruto quickly dismissed the strange comment and activated the bomb. Energy errupted out from Shukaku's belly sending frozen sand flying in every direction and finally destroying the tailed beasts body. Gaara was also shot out of the sand, he was unconscious and wasn't going to wake up any time soon.

Unfortunately for our favorite blonde knucklehead, there is no rest for the weary and in the same moment that Gaara hit the ground, an explosion came from that building he'd noticed before.

He could feel the pressure wave slam into his chest and he realized then that the battle taking place was far beyond his skill level.

Even so, the thought of losing one of his precious people caused him to make rash decisions. He hopped onto Chishiki's back and took off towards the mayhem.

"I'm on my way jiji"

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	8. Chapter 8

**I don't know why it took me so long to decide on this but from here on out you should think of the dragons as having four legs unless stated otherwise.**

 **If you have been imagining a different look up till this point,** **I'm sorry.**

 **Leave a review!**

* * *

Naruto was drained of energy but he couldn't stop, if there was even the smallest chance that he could help his Jiji then he would give everything he had left.

As he soared through the air on Chishiki's back he felt the wind blowing past, whipping his hair and clothes in every direction. He was struggling to keep his eyes open and now he was truly feeling the effects of chakra exhaustion.

 **"We're nearly there"** The dragon stated.

As Naruto looked up he could see the battle very clearly now. There was a single man facing off against the Hokage and a couple of anbu. There were some bodies strewn about and what seemed to be a forest growing out of the building. The roots of the trees had grown throughout the building, burrowing into the walls and floors. Also, some of the roof had caved in from the explosions, creating pitfalls that sometimes went down multiple floors.

At the same moment that Chishiki cautiously touched down onto the roof, a couple of leaf shinobi arrived as well.

Some of them immediately engaged in battle with the pale snake man and others moved to report to the hokage.

"Hokage-sama we have forced the sand shinobi to retreat but there are still some from sound lingering about. The rest of our platoon will be arriving shortly."

The hokage nodded, never taking his attention away from the opponent. Naruto observed the man as well, he could see that this enemy was leaps and bounds more powerful than him, in his current state he didn't stand a chance.

"Give up Orochimaru! Your plan is failing before your eyes! Are you truly willing to die here?" Hiruzen shouted.

The man, who Naruto now knew as Orochimaru, hissed back his response. "Your threats are empty sensei, I've nothing to fear from this pitiful village."

"You've become a monster, and this time I will not hesitate to destroy you." The old man truly sounded his age as he said this. You could tell this was not a fight he enjoyed. He buried his emotions and resumed the onslaught.

The anbu and the hokage were putting pressure on Orochimaru, causing him to fight defensively, blocking attacks and retaliating every so often with a jutsu. Although he fought alone, he was holding his own, even killing one of the leaf shinobi.

Hiruzen was on a whole different level though, he continued to slip attacks past Orochimaru's guard dealing significant damage. The full power of a kage was being put on display, withered old man or not.

Naruto desperately wanted to join in and provide whatever support he could, but he had no chakra left at all and Chishiki's attacks would endanger the leaf shinobi as well. For now he could only wait.

As Hiruzen landed a blow that sent Orochimaru flying, something happened that changed the entire flow of the battle. Four sound shinobi appeared on the scene, they had strange markings covering their bodies and they wasted no time going to work. They were able to single handedly dispatch of chunin level shinobi and worked together for jonin and anbu. The leafs numbers were dropping quickly.

In his fatigue Naruto was struggling to follow exactly what was happening, his brain couldn't process these sudden radical changes in the situation. He watched in confusion and a bit of fear as the sound four beat back most of the leaf shinobi and surrounded the Hokage. Together they formed a square of sorts, with Naruto at one of the corners. The strange redheaded girl had appeared a few meters in front of him and began to go through handsigns.

Before anyone could react a large purple barrier was erected that burned whatever touched it on contact. Everyone there learned that lesson very quickly after seeing a comrade rush in without thinking.

As the barrier rose up the rest of the leaf platoon arrived on the scene.

'Some timing.' Naruto thought sarcastically.

In any case, the battle slowed to a standstill. The shinobi on the outside could not get in and the Hokage along with a couple subordinates were stuck on the inside. After a moment Naruto hopped down onto the roof and began to approach the platoon waiting on the outside.

"What are you guys doing? You need to get in there!" Naruto exclaimed.

There was a single anbu member on the outside trying to give orders and he turned to Naruto, revealing his owl mask.

"That's what we're trying to do. You should get out of here kid, it's not safe."

Naruto looked at him defiantly and said

"Fukurō-san, I am a leaf shinobi and I will fight to protect my village!" He tapped his headband for emphasis.

The anbu looked tired and decided not to argue. He said "Well look, we have some guys trying to come up with something to take down this barrier, so just stand by until then."

Suddenly a shout could be heard from inside the barrier. As Naruto looked over he could see an anbu member being held up in the air by snakes that extended from Orochimarus arms. A snake slithered up his body and bit him in the neck.

He was released and he fell limply back down to the ground. Dead. The venom had killed him in mere seconds.

Naruto's eyes widened and he began to panic, fear nestled into his very soul as he thought about what would happen to his grandfather figure.

Suddenly he was very alert now. Adrenaline was coursing through his body and his eyes began to dart around, searching for any way to get through the barrier. He wouldn't be able to do much fighting, if any at all, but he had to help somehow. If he could get the platoon through the barrier, they could win.

As he searched, his eyes landed on each of the sound four and his brain began to slowly put the pieces together. He turned to the anbu, now dubbed Fukurō, and spoke up.

"This barrier needs all four of those guys to keep it up, right?" Naruto asked.

"That's what we think, it's either that or each one of them adds strength to it and only one is needed to erect it."

"So in either case we don't need to attack the barrier itself, we need to attack them!"

Fukurō replied in an exasperated voice.

"We've tried that already, they're protected from the inside and the outside. No attack can get through."

Naruto frowned as his mind sifted through possibility after possiblity but he drew a blank. Then he heard something he never wanted to hear. It was a voice filled with shock and horror.

"H-Hokage-sama!"

Naruto forced himself to look, slowly turning his head to peer into the battlefield. He did not like what he saw.

Hiruzen Saurtobi, the god of shinobi, stood defensively in front of what few subordinates he had left. There was a snake biting his forearm, kunai stuck in his shoulder, and a blade piercing his side.

The kage had seen what the venom could do so thinking quickly, he detatched the snake from his forearm, grabbed a kunai and dragged it down the entire length of his arm, draining most of the poison. He would live for now, but he was losing a lot of blood.

Everyone on the inside looked worn down, barely holding on, and from the looks of it the hokage would die soon.

Naruto went cold. "CHISHIKI!" He yelled out in a panicked and fearful voice.

 **"Yes?"**

"Get me in there! NOW!"

 **"I can only think of one way in, but it is potentially dangerous."**

"You need to get me in there." Naruto said. He was almost begging at this point.

Chishiki nodded. He understood that when humans were filled with emotions it was very difficult to get them to listen to reason. He just hoped that what he was about to do didn't cause too much damage, since the building was already structurally compromised.

He better positioned himself behind the red headed girl and got ready.

Seeing that the powerful summon was about to do something drastic Naruto and the rest of the leaf platoon had stepped back to a safer distance, though no one was exactly sure what distance was safe when it came to a beast like Chishiki.

The dragon reared back on his hind legs, standing to his full height, and then slammed his front legs back down onto the roof with as much power as he could muster. The impact shook the entire building and sent vibrations all the way down to the ground. It was essentially an artificial earthquake.

The red headed girl that was holding up the barrier was immediately thrown into the air causing the barrier to be released.

She wasn't the only thing that got flung into the sky however, rubble shot out and began to cause even more damage. It connected with other buildings causing pieces to fall off and cracks to form. some of it even managed to hit members of the leaf platoon.

The building creaked and groaned in protest to this power, in an instant the whole side where Chishiki had struck was collapsing, crushing whatever was in the way and cracking the stone paths as they fell to the ground below. Chishiki steered clear of the falling debris with his wings.

This whole thing took less than 5 seconds but it played in slow motion for Naruto, he could see rubble whizzing by his face and he saw the girl falling, her eyes were wide like she didn't know what was happening. He could even see the cracks forming as the side of the building imploded.

He kept his eyes locked onto the girl though, she flailed about in the air, hopelessly moving in an attempt to somehow stop the effects of gravity but alas, she continued to fall. As she hit the ground all her movement stopped.

He stared at her prone form for a moment before thinking to himself

'A fall like that wouldn't kill her, right? She's probably just unconscious, with some broken bones.'

Naruto heard a shout and saw that the platoon rushed forward to protect the hokage. Hiruzen refused to let them fight on their own and began to launch jutsu after jutsu, contributing as much as he could to pushing the enemy back, all while having a sword stuck through his side.

The snake man was outnumbered and overwhelmed. He ordered his three henchman to retreat and some jonin gave chase, within a few seconds they were out of Naruto's field of view.

'I hope they catch those guys' he thought.

Naruto ran to see his Jiji and as the old warrior saw the blonde coming, a look of suprise came to his face, then he smiled.

It was a smile full of pride, just from looking at Naruto he could tell that the boy fought hard today. But there was no time for words, the old man began to cough up blood and felt very weak.

Naruto couldn't believe the state of him, he was bloody and battered, with a sword protruding from his body, not to mention the small amout of venom still coursing through him, and yet he continued to stand on his own.

Someone started to shout out orders.

"I need someone to get Hokage-sama to the ER now! And somebody put a chakra suppression seal on that girl, then throw her in the infirmary so we can check her wounds!"

"But she's the enemy!" someone shouted.

"An enemy with information." The way the man said that was almost sinister, but Naruto brushed it off. As Hiruzen was taken away to be treated Naruto turned to Chishiki with his eyes half lidded and nearly unconscious.

"Thank you, for everything. There's nothing left for you to do now. The battle's over." Naruto said tiredly.

Chishiki nodded and said **"You are in need of rest, make certain that you get it."** before poofing away.

Naruto looked up to the sky, the sound of fighting had fadded away and the birds were chirping again.

Naruto could no longer stand up straight. He was swaying on his feet, his breathing was ragged, his vision blurred, and even his hearing seemed muffled.

"You okay kid?" Fukurō asked.

Naruto gave him a confused look, he took a single step forward before passing out. Fukurō moved to catch him.

"You did good kid, let's get you to the infirmary."

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 **Leave a review - It always helps.**


	9. Chapter 9

* * *

His face scrunched up as the light filtered into his squinted eyes. He sat up, and as he looked around, all he could see was white. White bed, white walls, white floors. He knew where he was now, the memories began to flood into his mind.

He looked down to see himself in a gown, there was an IV stuck in his arm and he felt slightly fatigued. He knew what happened to him but had no idea how he got here. He furrowed his brow trying to recall his last few moments of consciousness. Then it hit him.

"Fukurō-san must've brought me here! I'll have to say thank you if I ever see him again."

Naruto felt something rustling under the covers. As he looked over, a scaley blue head popped up and locked eyes with him.

"Seiteki!" Naruto exclaimed.

The small dragon jumped onto Naruto's lap and began to hop up and down excitedly. Naruto chuckled at the hyper dragons antics.

"I guess you found a safe place to hide once shukaku came out huh? I'm glad you're okay."

Naruto began to pet Seiteki's head, which was much smoother than it appeared. Small arcs of electricity began to jump between the spines on Seiteki's back and he made a low rumbling sound.

'I guess that means he likes it.' Naruto thought with a smile.

The door to his room swung open and Naruto could see a woman holding a clipboard. she was wearing a nurse outfit and was young and attractive.

Naruto looked at her as she stepped to the front of his bed without looking up. She finally took her eyes off the clipboard to see Naruto staring at her.

"Oh, you're awake. Quite the fast healer, aren't you? You were only out for a day."

"Yup!" He said grinning.

"Well in that case I'll need to do a check up." She placed the clipboard down and walked to the side of the bed. Her hands began to glow and she placed them onto Naruto's bare back.

Naruto blushed a little, her hands were soft and very warm. He heard her speak up.

"I saw your fight with the hyuga boy, you know. I thought you were amazing, and so was he." She said nodding to Seiteki.

The small dragon puffed out his chest with pride, making the nurse giggle.

A grin spread across Naruto's face, he'd never had anyone besided his jiji praise him before.

"I heard some rumors about you too."

"Rumors? Rumors like what?" Naruto asked.

"Really weird ones" She said laughing.

"People say that you fought a devil and some others say that you single handedly saved Hokage-sama. People come up with the craziest things don't they?"

"I wouldn't say those are _totally_ wrong." Naruto stated. "I did fight a huge monster and I was there to help the others save Jiji - I mean, Hokage-sama."

The nurse looked at this boy in complete shock. The words coming out of his mouth were completely outlandish, but she couldn't see any signs of it being a lie.

"How is he anyway?" Naruto asked.

"What?" The nurse asked, breaking from her thoughts.

"The Hokage, how is he? I'd like to see him."

"Oh, the doctors finished operating on him sometime yesterday, but I don't think they're accepting visitors."

Her hands stopped glowing and she said "Well, you seem fine, so you can leave whenever you'd like. Your belongings are in the cabinet over there."

"Thank you."

The nurse carefully removed the IV and once again grabbed the clipboard. She began to walk out of the room. She was excited to tell someone how she got to do a checkup on the boy who helped save the hokage. It still sounded crazy just thinking about it.

Naruto rose up out of bed and moved to the cabinet to readorn his chain mesh, blue hoodie, black shinobi pants, and sandals. Seiteki once again sat upon his throne, in other words Naruto's head, and Naruto pulled the hood up so the dragon could sleep better.

'I should try to see jiji'. He thought.

Naruto exited the room then looked left and right. He paused, to his right, all the way down the hall there was a room with a jonin guard standing by the door.

Naruto began to think. ' Obviously the hokages room would be guarded, but I doubt it would be by a single Jonin...They probably have that red haired girl in there.'

He continued walking through the halls in search of where the hokage was resting, it was a bit hard to find because anyone he asked refused to give him a direct answer. After a couple minutes of wandering he spotted two anbu standing guard.

'Bingo'

Naruto walked up to them and was immediately stopped by the one to his left.

"Stop, you are not permitted past this point." The man was very forceful and Naruto was about to turn back, seeing as how there was no way he could sneak past these two anbu, but then he heard a familiar voice.

"You here to see the kage kid?"

Naruto looked to his right and saw the man who brought him here.

"Fukurō-san! I didn't think I'd see you again. Thank you for bringing me here."

"Well I couldn't just leave you passed out on the roof of a collapsing building, could I?"

Naruto snickered and the other anbu asked "You know him?"

"I do." Was Fukurō's simple response.

"Can you please let me see him, I won't take too long, I promise." Naruto asked.

"We are under strict orders to--" Fukurō cut off his partner.

"You might not want to see him kid. He's in pretty rough shape."

"You're not supposed to tell him tha--" Now Naruto cut him off.

"That's why I need to see him!" Naruto protested.

Fukurō stared at Naruto for a moment, like he was analyzing him, which was unsettling for Naruto because he couldn't see his eyes but he could feel them on him. His eyes were piercing, like an owls.

After a moment Fukurō suddenly spoke. "Sure kid. let him in, he's good."

"Are you sure? You'd be ignoring your orders...again."

"It won't be a problem if no one knows." Fukurō said slyly.

His partner just sighed and said "fine."

"Thank you Fukurō-san"

Fukurō simply nodded and Naruto walked through the door into the room and shut the door behind him.

"You think he'll be alright? After seeing that?"

"I don't know, but he's a tough kid." Fukurō answered.

* * *

Naruto walked into the room. It was dimly lit and he could hear the beeping of the equipment. There was a curtain up ahead that was shielding one of the beds from view. Naruto approached it and slowly pulled it open.

The very next second he forcefully pulled it back into place, obscuring the bed once again. Naruto's heart dropped and he felt slightly dizzy.

'There's no way... that can't be him... Is it?'

Naruto once again pulled open the curtain to reveal Hiruzen lying in bed. He had a tube going down his throat, a cast for some broken bones, an IV stuck into his veins, and bandages covering nearly his whole body. The old man was hooked up to more machines than Naruto could even count.

It turned out that he had sustained a lot more damage than what it first appeared. There were internal lacerations, broken ribs, a punctured lung, and problematic swelling. He was in a stable condition now but Naruto could only imagine the stress on the doctors as they tried to stitch him back up.

Naruto took a chair, sat next to the bed and grabbed Hiruzens hand - the one that wasn't broken. He looked over the state of the man and began to cry.

"Why did this happen?" he wailed.

He mulled over the events in his head again and again, thinking of all the little things that he could've done different, things that could've prevented this from happening. The memories he had with Hiruzen began to stream into his mind, all the times he was there when Naruto needed him. His emotions began to fluctuate wildly, from saddnes and regret, to happy and reminiscent, then settling on frustrated and vengeful.

He sat there for about half an hour, alone with his thoughts. He tried to remember all the good times that he and Hiruzen shared in order to calm himself, but he only succeed in falling deeper into a pit of rage.

"It was them. Orochimaru and those four, it's their fault." Naruto spat out.

He paused.

'That room with the guard, thats where the girl is. Someone has to pay!'

Naruto rose from his seat and left, taking one last glance at his jiji, which only served to spur on his actions further.

He exited the room.

* * *

The door shut behind him as he stepped forward and turned to face Fukurō.

"Would you come find me when he wakes up?" Naruto asked.

"Sure."

"Thanks." Naruto turned and began to walk back to the room with the guard.

'I remember them saying they would treat her wounds, so if she's anywhere, it's in that room' Naruto deduced.

He was speed walking down the halls trying his best not to draw attention. He stopped where two hallways intersected and when he reached the corner he went to take a peek. All the way down the hall he could see a single Jonin guard.

'How do I get past him?' Naruto wondered.

Naruto toiled over the problem for a minute and then a light bulb went off in his head.

* * *

A red headed girl shot out from behind the corner and began to frantically run down the hall. She had strange red hair, was covered in bandages and had a limp. Her eyes were darting around, looking at every door hoping one of them was an exit.

She stumbled along until her eyes locked with those of the guard, she froze in place. The guard stared at her in shock and looked between her and the door he was guarding a couple times. He analyzed the girl and saw that she had a kunai in her hand, how she got it he didn't know.

'I can't let her get away, especially since she's holding a weapon.' The guard thought.

He suddenly began to give chase and the girl turned and ran back the way she came, always staying a few steps ahead of the jonin to keep him chasing. As the girl turned left into the intersection hallway, the guard followed.

The next second Naruto shot out from the right and ran full speed towards the now unguarded door. He threw the door open and walked in.

* * *

"Man, I really love shadow clones." Naruto mumbled as the door closed.

Naruto approached the bed slowly. The girl was sleeping and she had one arm and one leg in a cast. With every step he took his body began to heat up and his rage began to boil.

Stopping beside her bed he just stared for a little while, trying to decide what to do. He had come here without really thinking, acting on impulse, but the longer he looked at her the angrier he got.

Naruto reached into his holster and gripped a kunai tight enough to turn his knuckles white. With a shaky hand he brought it directly over her heart, and then hesitated. His heart was working double time and he was breathing harder.

For an instant, his eyes glanced over at her face and he was shocked to see that she was staring at him. Naruto began to panic.

But a raspy voice cut through air. "Do it."

Naruto gave her an incredulous look. He figured that in the event of this happening, the girl would be begging for her life, apologising for what she did or try to make some sort of deal. He was so taken aback that his grip on the kunai loosened.

He looked into her eyes and he saw himself. He might as well have been looking into a mirror. He could see that endless loneliness that he knew all too well.

But the rage was still bubbling inside him, anxious to burst forth and turn the world to ash. Naruto inhaled sharply, raised the kunai higher, then froze again. Naruto looked her in the eye.

She was fine with this.

Naruto's arm was trembling and he desperately wanted to end her life, to take revenge upon those who harmed his precious people, but in the end he sighed and the kunai fell back to his side.

"I can't" Naruto whispered.

Suddenly heavy footsteps could be heard quickly approaching the door. In his turmoil, Naruto had failed to realize that his clone got poofed during the chase.

Naruto did not want to be seen, so he threw himself out of the window. He landed onto the ground hard, luckily it wasn't too high up. Naruto got to his feet and made his escape, still feeling conflicted over what just happened.

* * *

Naruto had run untill he reached the training grounds and he felt like screaming. He felt so conflicted and frustrated that he was ready to lash out at anything.

He forcefully yanked down his hood and Seiteki flew out looking for enemies, seeing none, he landed back on the ground.

"I should've done it! But..."

Naruto began to scratch his head and mess with his hair in frustration. He decided that this needed to be settled, so he made a familiar hand sign.

"Shadow clone jutsu!"

Of course a clone popped into existence, but this time it wasn't for battle. Naruto had always found that when he had conflicting feelings about something, it was best solved by having a debate with himself, debates that sometimes devolved into senseless fist fights, but it worked most of the time.

The clone wasted no time in trying to get his point across.

"Why didn't you kill her?!" The clone screamed.

"You want to kill a girl who was lying helplessly in a hospital bed?!" Naruto yelled back.

"Yes! I did! And I still do! So do you!"

Seiteki watched the exchange with curiosity, cocking his head to the side.

"That's cold blooded murder!" The original yelled.

"We're shinobi idiot! Murder is what we do! look... she hurt someone close to you, for that, she deserves to be hurt back. She came into _our_ home and tried to destroy everything the hokage have built over the years, she's scum!"

"She was following orders, we could've been in the same position as her. You said it yourself! How can I fault the soldier for following her orders? It's not right."

The clone faltered, it appeared Naruto was getting through now.

Naruto sighed and said "Look, what she did was bad, we both agree on that, but if I were to kill her, what would that make me?"

"You'd be a damn hero! You'd be someone who wanted justice and then went and delivered it."

"No... My whole life was spent trying to become strong enough so that I could protect people, and not just the people of the leaf, I'd protect anyone who needs my help. So for me to kill her while she's completely helpless would go against who I am, and then I really would be what they say. A demon."

The clone sighed but stayed silent, the original had a point. He wanted revenge but to get it he would have to throw away the ideals and morals that made him who he is.

Maybe that's why they tell you to dig two graves.

"So... what? You're just gonna forget about it? While jiji is suffering in that same hospital?"

"What do you want me to say?! I just... I don't know."

The clone sucked his teeth, he wasn't so sure if his way was right anymore either. There was a long silence with nothing but the sounds of birds filling the air.

"...Did you see that look in her eyes?" The original called out suddenly.

"Yeah, it was like she wanted it. She looked terrified."

"Yeah...but not of us."

* * *

 **" _Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves." - Confucius_**

 **Review please!**


	10. Chapter 10

Naruto yawned and stretched as he began to exit his bedroom. It had been a few days since his visit to the hokage and his deserted assassination attempt. In hindsight Naruto was glad he could control himself, but just thinking about it still gave him a strange feeling.

There was something else on his mind too. A day after his visit, he had gone back to the hospital in order to see Sasuke, who had just woken up.

He was expecting a friendly visit, especially considering the fact that they fought side by side to take down gaara, but he was not so lucky.

* * *

Naruto opened the door into the hospital room and he noticed that Sakura was already there, tending to Sasuke who was sitting up in bed. He seemed upset about something but Naruto paid it no mind.

"Hey Sasuke! Finally got enough beauty sleep?"

The two other occupants in the room turned to look at him and Sasuke seemed amused at his quip. Although, his face quickly returned to it's previous upset one.

"Hey Naruto" Sakura said. She seemed to be acting strangely, more akward than usual.

Naruto greeted her and then turned back to Sasuke.

"So how you feeling? That Gaara guy didn't mess you up too bad right?" He asked chuckling.

"He broke some ribs but other than that I'm fine." Sasuke responded.

"Oh that's right!" Sakura exclaimed. "I heard some pretty crazy stuff about you Naruto."

Sasuke perked up.

"You mean those rumo-" Sasuke cut him off.

"Everyone's talking about how you brought down the monster and saved the Hokage. They're talking about you like a damn hero."

Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Yeah, I guess they are."

"Well is it true? Did you save the Hokage after I passed out?" Sasuke asked.

There was something in his voice that Naruto couldn't discern, he'd never heard Sasuke sound like that before.

Naruto responded slowly. "Well, yeah, I guess... I was just trying to help the anbu."

Sasuke's reaction could not be seen but he was fuming.

'When did he get this strong?! How could he have kept on going after fighting Gaara? If this was the Naruto I used to know, I would've just assumed he was lying, but... when we fought together, I could feel it, how much power he truly has.'

"But man, that was crazy wasn't it Sasuke? I didn't think we could actually beat that thing."

"Naruto... I want to fight you. Now."

Naruto and Sakura looked at him dumbfounded.

"Don't get me wrong I want to fight you too Sasuke but you just woke up, you cant fight yet!"

"Dont be such a wuss! Just fight me and I'll end it quickly."

"If we fought, you'd need a lot more time in this room." Naruto shot back.

"No Naruto you can't hurt him!" Sakura said.

This little comment made Sasuke even angrier.

'Hurt me? So she's seen his new powers too? ...and she thinks that he can beat me?!?' He roared in his mind.

"You won't fight me because you're weak and you know it." Sasuke snarled.

"Sasuke-kun that was uncalled for!" Sakura exclaimed.

"It's not like you're any better. You're even weaker than he is. You shouldn't be a ninja in the first place."

Sakura frowned and hung her head sadly, what he said was true which made it hurt even more.

"What the hell is your problem teme?!"

Sasuke stepped out of bed and got up in Naruto's face.

"It's you." he said with distain.

* * *

Naruto sighed, he wasn't expecting that. Maybe he and Sasuke will never truly be friends.

In the end he refused to fight the Uchiha.

As he exited the bedroom he immediately stopped in his tracks as he made eye contact with a familiar mask.

There on his couch sat Fukurō with his mask pushed up just enough so that he could shovel some instant ramen into his mouth. From the looks of it he was on his third cup.

"Yo" Fukurō said with noodles hanging out of his mouth.

"H-how did you get in here?"

Fukurō stared blankly at him before saying "I'm a member of the anbu black ops, give me _some_ credit."

"Well then why did you come here? Besides to eat my ramen."

"You told me to find you when Hokage-sama woke up, so I found you."

"He's awake?!" Naruto nearly shouted.

"Yeah, he woke up two days ago but he had business to discuss. You can go see him now though."

Naruto basically teleported throughout his apartment while he got ready to leave. As he reached for the front door a voice stopped him.

"Hey kid, you think I can take one of these with me?"

Naruto looked over to see Fukurō holding another cup of instant ramen.

He chuckled and said "Yeah, sure." He opened the door, then paused.

"And Fukurō-san?"

"Hmmm?"

"Thank you"

"Anytime kid."

Naruto exited leaving the anbu standing alone in the apartment.

Fukurō sighed. "Man, that kid never catches a break does he?"

Fukurō looked down to see a blue dragon walking out from seemingly nowhere into view. It stopped and they locked eyes.

Suddenly Seiteki began to spark and growl. Fukurō threw his hands up in surrender.

"You want me to leave? Is that it?"

Seiteki continued to growl.

"D-did I step on a chew toy or something?! What is it?! What do you want?!" He asked desperately.

Seiteki growled louder and glanced at the cup noodles still in Fukurō's hands. He noticed this and glanced at the cup as well. His eyes kept slowly shifting between the dragon and the cup.

Then, In an instant Fukurō sped off towards the window, trying to escape, and Seiteki gave chase.

"Oh shit, oh shit, oh fuck." Fukurō kept muttering as he ran across rooftops. No matter what he did he couldn't shake Seiteki off his trail.

There was a strange screeching sound coming from behind him, so Fukurō took a quick glance back. His eyes widened in shock.

"OH SHIT! AGHHH!"

* * *

Naruto was running through the streets on his way to the hospital, he was excited to see his jiji.

As he was weaving through the crowds he saw something strange. It was a girl with flowing red hair. She was in cuffs and being escorted by some shinobi. She was walking with a limp.

Naruto's whole world stopped for a moment as they made eye contact with each other. There were so many little things he could see, so many emotions that where swirling around in her heart. But there was one the ruled over them all, and it was fear.

'Where are they taking her? 'What will they do with her?' Naruto thought.

Time seemed to finally speed up as the girl and the shinobi walked by. Naruto quickly turned around and stopped one of the four shinobi escorting her. The others didn't seem to notice.

"Escuse me but, where exactly are you taking her?"

"The girl? We're taking her to T and I (Torture and interrogation), She probably doesn't know anything but I'm sure the boys over there will have fun anyway."

The man noticed that he was lagging behind and quickly excused himself.

Naruto stood frozen in place. The girl he had just spared was going to be brutally tortured for information she might not even have. He heard the rumors about Konoha's interrogation methods, they were the most effective of all the hidden villages and with good reason.

Naruto remembered standing in her hospital room, the way she looked at him.

'That's why she was so scared.' he thought in realization.

Naruto continued to walk towards the hospital. He was moving slower than before, it was evident that he had something on his mind. He reached the hospital room before he even knew it.

He paused, exhaled slowly and tried to clear his thoughts, then slid the door open.

* * *

He entered the room to see the sun filtering in through the windows. Hiruzen was in bed, he didn't look much better than the first time, still hooked up to many machines, but he was awake.

Naruto walked next to the bed and looked him over for a moment, the sadness plastered clearly across his face for Hiruzen to see.

"Naruto" Hiruzen said in a raspy voice.

"You came to see me, I'm glad." It seemed like he was trying to hide it but Naruto could hear it in his voice, he was in pain.

Naruto began to tear up, something the kage took notice of.

"I'm not long for this world Naruto-kun..."

Naruto jerked up as the old kage confirmed his suspicions, this was his deathbed.

Hiruzen continued to speak.

"But don't cry for me, Your fire burns birght and I know that you will make a fine man and a great Hokage."

Naruto burst into tears and collapsed, burying his face into the bed, beside the dying man.

"I should've have stopped this, I could've done more, I should've..." Naruto mumbled into the bed sheets.

"I know what you did that day Naruto-kun, and as a shinobi of the leaf village, I couldn't have asked for more. I'm proud of you."

Naruto didn't raise his head off of the bed but the tears lessened ever so slightly.

"Jiji... It's not fair... why do you have to die while that girl gets to live?... It's her fault... I should've killed her... but I couldn't."

Hiruzen quickly pieced together what Naruto was saying. His body was failing but his mind was still sharp.

"Well...why do you think that is?"

Naruto stayed silent.

"I know why. It's because _you_ know what many others fail to understand. The weak seek out vengeance, but the strong find it in their hearts to forgive those who are worthy and live on... You saw a light in that girl didn't you? Something that made her worthy of your forgiveness, don't mistaken that for weakness or cowardice, you are strong Naruto!"

He went into a coughing fit as he finished his small lecture, there was a rattling sound coming from his lungs and it was getting harder for him to breathe. Naruto looked on with worry but after a minute Hiruzen caught his breath before speaking again. He wasn't finished with his life lesson, after all.

"The life of a shinobi is full of conflicts and violence, these things chip away at the body... Please Naruto, don't let this resentment chip away at your mind."

The young ninja let the wise words of his elder tumble around in his mind

 _"Forgiveness is for the strong"_

 _"Don't let this chip away at your mind"_

 _"You are strong Naruto!"_

 _"You saw something in her, didn't you?"_

He paused.

'What did I see in her? What made me stop?'

An image of her face came to the forefront of his mind. Eyes full of fear and loneliness, a frown full of sorrow, a tear formed from regrets.

"Ok..." Naruto said. "I'll try."

The wise kage smiled and placed his hand atop Naruto's head to comfort him. His hand was warm despite the fact that his time was running out, Naruto held back tears as he realized this would likely be the last time he felt this warmth.

"Naruto-kun, I have one final surprise for you."

Naruto sniffled. "What is it?" he asked.

"I spoke to Jiraiya yesterday and he agreed to make you his apprentice. Two days from now you will be going on a journey with him to find the next hokage. He will train you to be a great shinobi, I'm sure of it."

Suddenly the door opened revealing a nurse who entered and then spoke up.

"I'm sorry, but I need to perform a checkup on Hokage-sama, would you please exit the room?"

"But..." Naruto shifted his gaze from the nurse back to Hiruzen who gave him a weak but encouraging smile.

Naruto dropped his shoulders. "Ok..."

He got up and began to exit the room, taking one last look at the first person to ever care for him, he shut the door behind himself and began to walk away.

'I'm gonna make you proud jiji. I promise'

There was a feeling of determination welling up inside the young man. This was not a promise that could be easily broken.

* * *

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	11. Chapter 11

Two days had passed and Jiraiya was almost ready to depart. He had gathered all the necessary supplies and funds but there was one more thing he needed to do before they left. He told Naruto to wait for him by the gates, hopefully it doesn't cause too much trouble.

* * *

Naruto was sat down by the village gates waiting for Jiraiya to return. He had packed for the trip as well, carrying many of the same things as Jiraiya. In truth, Naruto didn't really want to leave, he wanted to be here when Hiruzen passed.

"But this is what jiji wanted for me... so..."

Seiteki was sleeping underneath Naruto's blue hood once again, he could hear the small dragons rythmic breathing. He sometimes wondered what dragons dreamed about or if they dreamed at all.

Naruto snapped back to reality when he caught sight of something red in his peripherals and as he turned to view it fully, he stood up in alarm.

He could see Jiraiya walking towards him but that wasn't the problem. The problem was the red head following behind him.

Naruto stared at the sannin in disbelief, and as Jiraiya reached the gates Naruto made his discontent very apparent.

"Why did you bring her here?"

Jiraiya sighed and said. "T and I couldn't get anything out of her so they asked me to give it a shot since I taught them what they know in the first place."

"What do you mean give it a shot? Are you gonna take her with us?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah, if she knows something about Orochimaru or his hideouts, anything that can help, I'm getting it out of her."

The girl moved ever so slightly, Naruto couldn't tell but it looked like she flinched.

"Well I'm not going anywhere with her."

"Naruto, you want to get stronger so you can protect those you care about, right?"

Naruto nodded slowly.

"You _know_ I can help you with that. I won't force you to go, but I want you to think of your precious people, think of what they would want for you and of what you want for them."

Naruto thought for a long while. He thought of everyone he wanted to protect and if it was possible to do that without Jiraiya.

He didn't want to go, especially now that _she_ was coming along too. In the end he sighed and lowered his head, accepting the fact that he needed Jiraiya's help to become stronger.

"Fine"

"I'm glad you saw sense Naruto, besides, I don't think she'll be causing any trouble." Jiraiya said.

Naruto took a close look at her for the first time that day and he noticed something strange. He couldn't see anything in her eyes, not like before. When he looked now they just seemed dead, empty.

'What'd they do to her?' Naruto wondered.

Jiraiya turned to her now, snapping his fingers to get her attention. She looked at him, her motions seemed autonomous, hardly alive.

Jiraiya held up a piece of paper that had a seal on it, Naruto also noticed a slightly similar looking seal on the back of his hand. Then he began to speak.

"I've placed a copy of this seal on you and I'm going to explain what it does, so listen carefully. Firstly, this seal suppresses your chakra, so don't try using it. Second, it will notify me if you move further than 20 feet away by making this seal on my hand glow. Lastly, If you remain further than 20 feet away from me for longer than one hour, a paralytic toxin will be released into your bloodstream that will slowly cause your lungs and heart to stop. I can also activate the seal and release the full dose at will so don't get any bright ideas."

Jiraiya seemed pleased with his explanation and after making sure she understood, he was ready to set off on their journey. Naruto looked at her as Jiraiya began to walk off, beckoning them to follow. Naruto almost felt bad for her, she'd just survived whatever they were doing to her in T and I and now she was a prisoner all over again.

He took his eyes off her and began to follow the toad sage.

'I guess that's just what happens to enemy shinobi... It can't be helped...'

* * *

They had departed the leaf village in the morning and had been walking until it was almost dark out, only stopping for a quick lunch break. A break in which the prisoner was denied food. She was only given water, just enough to keep her moving. It truly seemed like she didn't have energy for anything else.

As a matter of fact, she hadn't said a word the whole day.

They came to a stop in a clearing with a river close by. Jiraiya turned and spoke up.

"This is where we'll spend the night, got room for dinner Naruto?"

"You bet I do!" Naruto responded enthusiastically.

"Good. I need you to set up the tents for me while I prepare the food." Jiraiya took two rolled up tents and threw them to Naruto.

"There are only two so you'll share yours with the girl."

Naruto looked at him incredulously.

Jiraiya began to laugh and held up a thrid tent. "Just kidding." He joked.

Naruto scowled and moved to put up the tents.

"Well I thought it was funny." Jiraiya mumbled.

Some time passed and Naruto finished setting up the tents. They formed a sort of isosceles triangle, (AN: Shoulda paid attention in geometry) with the cooking equipment in the middle. Speaking of which, the food was giving off an enticing aroma which made Naruto's stomach growl and his mouth water.

Jiraiya and the girl were sat by the small fire sitting opposite each other and Naruto went to join them. They all waited, with nothing but the crackling of the fire filling the silent night.

Afte what seemed like forever Jiraiya finally pulled out two bowls, one for him and one for Naruto. He dipped a ladel into the pot and slowly poured it into a bowl before handing it to Naruto. He did the same motion with his own bowl, emptying the cooking pot.

It was almost like he was making sure the prisoner could see every atom of food that went into that bowl.

Without hesitation Jiraiya began to dig in but Naruto looked at the red head. She had gotten no food, again.

"Oh!" Jiraiya exclaimed. "I almost forgot, here." He threw something at her, she made no motion to catch it, so it struck her chin and landed in her lap.

It was some sort of granola bar. Jiraiya resumed eating, his food was disappearing at an alarming rate.

"Your foods gonna get cold Naruto." He said between bites.

"Eat it." It wasn't a suggestion.

Naruto slowly began to eat, filling his belly with the warm meal he had been craving all day. It only took a minute for the toad sage to empty his bowl. Standing up he said, "Well, guess I'll turn in for the night."

He retreated into his tent, claiming the one at the triangles tip. The red head followed suit, entering her tent, leaving Naruto alone with a half empty bowl of food.

He stared down into the bowl guiltily. There was something strange happening, his mind was quiet, like still water. There were no thoughts to guide his actions, instead, his subconscious was taking control. To put it simply, he'd witnessed injustice and his subconscious wanted to set it right.

He looked at Jiraiya's tent, then at the prisoner's tent, then back to the food.

He stood up and slowly walked to the front of the girls tent. He still wasn't truly thinking about his actions. About how what he was doing directly undermined Jiraiya interrogation methods. About how he was going to show kindness to someone who participated in besieging his home, someone who aided in the attempted assassination of his most precious person.

He entered the tent and was surprised to see her sitting in one spot, staring at nothing. She had opened the granola bar but only ate a piece, likely rationing the rest.

He stepped further into the tent but she did not look up at him, so he lowered himself to look her in the eye. Slowly, he held the bowl out to her, half full of still warm food.

For the first time that day, she actually came alive. She seemed conscious, aware of her surroundings. Slowly, she reached for the bowl of food, wary of Naruto.

She grabbed hold of it and stared at it's contents, wondering if the boy in front of her had done something to it, her stomach was so empty she almost didn't care.

"I'm only giving you this because it isn't fair for him to starve you."

She couldn't resist anymore, the foods aroma was filling her nostrils, making her even hungrier than before. She began to devour Naruto's little gift and within seconds that bowl was clean.

Having set the injustice right, his subconscious receded, he now realized the full scope of what he just did, but why did he do it?

His moral compass, his sense of right and wrong, had a big part to play, but not the biggest.

As his thoughts flooded back in, so too came Hiruzens last words of wisdom, running through his head.

 _"Don't let_ _this chip away at your mind."_

'I'm gonna try... but just this once.' he thought.

"...What's your name?" Naruto asked, cutting through the silence.

She didn't answer. She simply stared down and shrunk into herself, avoiding eye contact and Naruto's confrontational aura.

"I know you can speak."

Still no response.

Naruto stared at the ground sadly for a moment.

"...I'm sorry jiji." Naruto mumbled quietly.

He got up and turned to leave the tent.

"Tayuya." she blurted out.

Naruto looked back at her to see that she was gripping the empty bowl tightly, and there, looking into her eyes, he could see the reason he entered the tent in the first place.

Hiruzens words called out once more.

" _You saw a light in her, didn't you?"_

His eyes widened but he composed himself. For a moment time froze, as if the universe itself was trying to decide what the future held for these two shinobi.

"Tayuya..." Naruto repeated softly.

Suddenly Naruto felt a warmth, the same warmth he had felt with Hiruzen in the hospital room. Even when the man was miles away, it was like he was still trying to encourage Naruto, to lead him down the right path.

"Why don't we... talk more tomorrow, okay Tayuya?"

She nodded slowly and after a moment Naruto left the tent, leaving Tayuya to stare at the empty bowl contently.

* * *

Jiraiya watched from a tree branch as Naruto exited Tayuya's tent and walked into his own, without his bowl of food.

"I didn't think the kid would actually do it." He mumbled to himself.

Jiraiya was planning on interrogating Tayuya in a day or so, when she was hungry, tired and delirious, but now that wasn't possible.

Jiraiya wasn't upset however, as he was good at improvising.

'If they begin to trust each other, then she might tell Naruto something useful... it'll be better if I pretend I don't know they're talking.' Jiraiya thought.

He decided that he'd always cook a little bit extra so that Naruto can still eat his share and have some leftover.

Jiraiya leapt off the branch and entered his tent, he suspected the next day would prove to be interesting.

* * *


End file.
